Japanese grammar

Japaneseis anagglutinative,synthetic,mora-timed language with simplephonotactics,apurevowel system, phonemicvowelandconsonantlength, and a lexically significantpitch-accent.Word order is normallysubject–object–verbwithparticlesmarking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure istopic–comment.Its phrases are exclusivelyhead-finaland compound sentences are exclusivelyleft-branching.^[a]Sentence-final particlesare used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or make questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender, and there are noarticles.Verbs areconjugated,primarily fortenseandvoice,but notperson.Japanese adjectivesare also conjugated. Japanese has a complex system ofhonorificswith verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned.

In language typology, it has many features different from most European languages.

Distinctive aspects of modern Japanese sentence structure

Word order: head-final and left-branching

The modern theory of constituent order ( "word order" ), usually attributed toJoseph Harold Greenberg,identifies several kinds of phrases. Each one has aheadand possibly a modifier. The head of a phrase either precedes its modifier (head-initial) or follows it (head-final). Some of these phrase types, with the head marked in boldface, are:

genitive phrase, i.e., noun modified by another noun ( "thecoverof the book "," the book'scover");
noun governed by anadposition( "onthe table ","underneaththe table ");
comparison ( "[X is]biggerthan Y ", i.e.," compared to Y, X isbig").
noun modified by an adjective ( "blackcat").

Some languages are inconsistent in constituent order, having a mixture of head-initial phrase types and head-final phrase types. Looking at the preceding list, English for example is mostly head-initial, but nouns follow the adjectives which modify them. Moreover, genitive phrases can be either head-initial or head-final in English. By contrast, the Japanese language is consistently head-final:

genitive phrase:

Miêu

neko

cat

の

no

GEN

Sắc

iro

color

"the cat's (neko no)color(iro) "

noun governed by anadposition:

Nhật bổn

nihon

Japan

に

ni

in

"inJapan "

comparison:

Y

Y‍

より

yori

than

Đại きい

ookii

big

"bigger than Y "

noun modified by an adjective:

Hắc い

kuroi

black

Miêu

neko

cat

Head-finality in Japanese sentence structure carries over to the building of sentences using other sentences. In sentences that have other sentences as constituents, the subordinated sentences (relative clauses, for example), always precede what they refer to, since they are modifiers and what they modify has the syntactic status of phrasal head. Translating the phrase "the man who was walking down the street" into Japanese word order would be "street down walking was man".^[b]

Head-finality prevails also when sentences are coordinated instead of subordinated. In the world's languages, it is common to avoid repetition between coordinated clauses by optionally deleting a constituent common to the two parts, as in "Bob bought his mother some flowers and his father a tie", where the secondboughtis omitted. In Japanese, such "gapping" must proceed in the reverse order: "Bob mother for some flowers and father for tie bought". The reason for this is that in Japanese, sentences (other than occasional inverted sentences or sentences containing afterthoughts) always end in a verb (or other predicative words like adjectival verbs, adjectival nouns, auxiliary verbs)—the only exceptions being a few sentence-ending particles such aska,ne,andyo.The particlekaturns a statement into a question, while the others express the speaker's attitude towards the statement.

Word class system

Japanese has five majorlexicalword classes:

nouns
verbal nouns (correspond to English gerunds like 'studying', 'jumping', which denote activities)
nominal adjectives (names vary, also calledna-adjectives or "adjectival nouns" )
verbs
adjectives (so-calledi-adjectives)

More broadly, there are two classes: uninflectable (nouns, including verbal nouns and nominal adjectives) and inflectable (verbs, with adjectives asdefective verbs). To be precise, a verbal noun is simply a noun to which thelight verbsuru(する,"do" )can be appended, while an adjectival noun is like a noun but uses-na(〜な)instead of-no(〜の)when acting attributively. Adjectives (i-adjectives) inflect identically to the negative form of verbs, which end inna-i(ない).Comparetabe-na-i(Thực べない,don't eat)→tabe-na-katta(Thực べなかった,didn't eat)andatsu-i(Nhiệt い,is hot)→atsu-katta(Nhiệt かった,was hot).

Some scholars, such asEleanor Harz Jorden,refer to adjectives instead asadjectivals,since they are grammatically distinct from adjectives: they canpredicatea sentence. That is,atsui(Nhiệt い)is glossed as "hot" when modifying a noun phrase, as inatsui gohan(Nhiệt いご phạn,hot food),but as "ishot "when predicating, as ingohan wa atsui(ご phạn は nhiệt い,[the] food is hot).

The twoinflectedclasses, verb and adjective, areclosed classes,meaning they do not readily gain new members.^[1]^[2]Instead, new and borrowed verbs and adjectives are conjugatedperiphrasticallyas verbal noun +suru(e.g.benkyō suru(Miễn cường する,do studying; study)) and adjectival noun +na.This differs fromIndo-European languages,where verbs and adjectives areopen classes,though analogous "do" constructions exist, including English "do a favor", "do the twist" or French "faire un footing" (do a "footing", go for a jog), and periphrastic constructions are common for other senses, like "try climbing" (verbal noun) or "try parkour" (noun). Other languages where verbs are a closed class includeBasque:very fewBasque verbs(albeits very common ones) have synthetic conjugation, all the others are only formed periphrastically. Conversely, pronouns are closed classes in Western languages but open classes in Japanese and some otherEast Asian languages.

In a few cases new verbs are created by appending-ru(〜る)suffixto a noun or using it to replace the end of a word. This is most often done with borrowed words, and results in a word written in a mixture of katakana (stem) and hiragana (inflectional ending), which is otherwise very rare.^[3]This is typically casual, with the most well-established example beingsabo-ru(サボる,skip class; play hooky)(circa 1920), fromsabotāju(サボタージュ,sabotage),with other common examples includingmemo-ru(メモる,write a memo),from memo(メモ),andmisu-ru(ミスる,make a mistake)frommisu(ミス,mistake).In cases where the borrowed word already ends with aru(ル),this may be punned to aru(る),as ingugu-ru(ググる,togoogle),fromgūguru(グーグル,Google),anddabu-ru(ダブる,to double),fromdaburu(ダブル,double).^[4]

New adjectives are extremely rare; one example iskiiro-i(Hoàng sắc い,yellow),from adjectival nounkiiro(Hoàng sắc),and a more casual recent example iskimo-i(きもい,gross),by contraction ofkimochi waru-i(Khí trì ち ác い,bad-feeling).^[5]By contrast, in Old Japanese-shiki(〜しき)adjectives (precursors of presenti-adjectives ending in-shi-i(〜しい),formerly a different word class) were open, as reflected in words likeita-ita-shi-i(Thống 々しい,pitiful),from the adjectiveita-i(Thống い,painful, hurt),andkō-gō-shi-i(Thần 々しい,heavenly, sublime),from the nounkami(Thần,god)(withsound change). Japanese adjectives are unusual in being closed class but quite numerous – about 700 adjectives – while most languages with closed class adjectives have very few.^[6]^[7]Some believe this is due to a grammatical change of inflection from an aspect system to a tense system, with adjectives predating the change.

Theconjugationofi-adjectives has similarities to the conjugation of verbs, unlike Western languages where inflection of adjectives, where it exists, is more likely to have similarities to thedeclensionof nouns. Verbs and adjectives being closely related is unusual from the perspective of English, but is a common case across languages generally, and one may consider Japanese adjectives as a kind ofstative verb.

Japanese vocabulary has a large layer ofChinese loanwords,nearly all of which go back more than one thousand years, yet virtually none of them are verbs or "i-adjectives "– they are all nouns, of which some are verbal nouns (suru) and some are adjectival nouns (na). In addition to the basic verbal noun +suruform, verbal nouns with a single-character root often experienced sound changes, such as-suru(〜する)→-zuru(〜ずる)(rendaku) →-jiru(〜じる),as inkin-jiru(Cấm じる,forbid),and some cases where the stem underwent sound change, as intassuru(Đạt する,reach),fromtatsu(Đạt).

Verbal nouns are uncontroversially nouns, having only minor syntactic differences to distinguish them from pure nouns like 'mountain'. There are some minor distinctions within verbal nouns, most notably that some primarily conjugate as-o suru(〜をする)(with a particle), more like nouns, while others primarily conjugate as-suru(〜する),and others are common either way. For example,keiken o suru(Kinh nghiệm をする,to experience)is much more common thankeiken suru(Kinh nghiệm する),whilekanben suru(Khám biện する,to pardon)is much more common thankanben o suru(Khám biện をする).^[8]Nominal adjectives have more syntactic differences versus pure nouns, and traditionally were considered more separate, but they, too, are ultimately a subcategory of nouns.

There are a few minor word classes that are related to adjectival nouns, namely thetaruadjectivesandnaruadjectives.Of these,naruadjectives are fossils of earlier forms ofnaadjectives (thenariadjectives ofOld Japanese), and are typically classed separately, whiletaruadjectives are a parallel class (formerlytariadjectives inLate Old Japanese), but are typically classed withnaadjectives.

Different classifications

The first structured description of the Japanese parts of speech(Phẩm từ,hinshi)was inGogaku Shinsho(Ngữ học tân thư),an 1831 grammar byTsurumine Shigenobu.^[9]It was based on earlier Dutch grammars such asShizuki Tadao'sOranda Shihin Kō(Hòa lan từ phẩm khảo,lit. 'Study of the Dutch Parts of Speech',1798)andRango Kyūhin Shū(Lan ngữ cửu phẩm tập,lit. 'Compilation of the Nine Dutch Parts of Speech',date unknown).The wordshinshiandshihinalso came about from these early late-Edoand early-Meijigrammars. Since then, there have been multiple conflicting classifications of the parts of speech of Japanese.

Grammarian	Year	Count	Parts of speech(Từ phẩm ／ phẩm từ,shihin / hinshi)
Tsurumine Shigenobu	1831^[10]	nine parts of speech(Cửu phẩm,kyūhin)	nouns(Thật thể ngôn ／ヰコトバ,jittaigen / ikotoba)		pronouns(Đại danh ngôn ／カヘコトバ,daimeigen / kaekotoba)	adjectives(Hư thể ngôn ／ツキコトバ,kyotaigen / tsukikotoba)		verbs(Hoạt dụng ngôn ／ハタラキコトバ,katsuyōgen / hatarakikotoba)					postpositions(Chỉ kỳ ngôn ／サシコトバ,shijigen / sashikotoba)	adverbs(Hình dung ngôn ／サマコトバ,keiyōgen / samakotoba)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục ngôn ／ツヾケコトバ,setsuzokugen / tsuzukekotoba)	interjections(Cảm động ngôn ／ナゲキコトバ,kandōgen / nagekikotoba)	attributives(Liên thể ngôn ／ツヾキコトバ,rentaigen / tsuzukikotoba)
Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture	1872^[11]	eight parts of speech	nouns(Danh(ナ)Từ(コトバ),nakotoba)		pronouns(Đại từ,kawarikotoba)	adjectives(Dạng từ,samakotoba)		verbs(Động từ,hatarakikotoba)		particles(Hậu từ,atokotoba)				adverbs(Phó từ,soekotoba)	conjunctions(Tiếp từ,tsugikotoba)	interjections(Thán từ,nagekikotoba)
Tanaka Yoshikado	1874^[12]	seven parts of speech(Thất phẩm từ,shichihinshi)	nouns(Danh từ ／ナコトバ,meishi / nakotoba)		pronouns(Đại danh từ ／カハリコトバ,daimeishi / kawarikotoba)	adjectives(Hình dung từ ／サマコトバ,keiyōshi / samakotoba)		verbs(Động từ ／ハタラキコトバ,dōshi / hatarakikotoba)						adverbs(Phó từ ／ソヘコトバ,fukushi / soekotoba)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ ／ツギコトバ,setsuzokushi / tsugikotoba)	interjections(Cảm từ ／ナゲキコトバ,kanshi / nagekikotoba)
Tanaka Yoshikado	1877^[13]	eight parts of speech(Bát phẩm từ,happinshi^[c])	nouns(Danh từ ／ナコトバ,meishi / nakotoba)		pronouns(Đại danh từ ／カハリコトバ,daimeishi / kawarikotoba)	adjectives(Hình dung từ ／サマコトバ,keiyōshi / samakotoba)		verbs(Động từ ／ハタラキコトバ,dōshi / hatarakikotoba)		particles(Hậu từ ／アトコトバ,kōshi / atokotoba)				adverbs(Phó từ ／ソヘコトバ,fukushi / soekotoba)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ ／ツギコトバ,setsuzokushi / tsugikotoba)	interjections(Cảm từ ／ナゲキコトバ,kanshi / nagekikotoba)
Nakane Kiyoshi	1876^[14]	eight parts of speech(Bát phẩm từ,happinshi^[c])	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)		particles(Hậu từ,kōshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm thán từ,kantanshi)
Yasuda Keisai	1877^[15]	eight parts of speech(Bát phẩm ／ bát phẩm từ,happin / happinshi^[c])	nouns(Danh từ ／ナコトバ,meishi / nakotoba)		pronouns(Đại danh từ ／カハリコトバ,daimeishi / kawarikotoba)	adjectives(Hình dung từ ／サマコトバ,keiyōshi / samakotoba)		verbs(Động từ ／ハタラキコトバ,dōshi / hatarakikotoba)		particles(Hậu từ ／アトコトバ,kōshi / atokotoba)				adverbs(Phó từ ／ソヘコトバ,fukushi / soekotoba)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ ／ツギコトバ,setsuzokushi / tsugikotoba)	interjections(Thán tức từ ／ナゲキコトバ,tansokushi / nagekikotoba)
Hori Hidenari	1877^[16]	three parts of speech	nouns(Ngôn(コト),koto)^[d]			verbs(Từ(コトバ),kotoba)^[e]			auxiliaries(Từ(テニヲハ),tenioha)
Nakajima Misao	1879^[17]	eight parts of speech(Bát phẩm từ,happinshi^[c])	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)					postpositions(Hậu trí từ,kōchishi)	adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm từ,kanshi)
Ōya Tōru	1880^[18]	seven parts of speech(Thất chủng,shichishu)	nouns(Thể ngôn ／ danh từ,taigen / meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh ngôn,daimeigen)	adjectives(Hình trạng ngôn ／ hình dung từ,keijōgen / keiyōshi)		verbs(Dụng ngôn ／ động từ,yōgen / dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ từ ／ hộ nhĩ ba,joji / teniha)					adverbs(Tiếp tục ngôn,setsuzokugen)		interjections(Cảm động ngôn,kandōgen)
Ōya Tōru	1899^[19]	seven parts of speech	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ từ,joji)					adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
Basil Hall Chamberlain	1887^[20]	nine parts of speech(Cửu phẩm の từ,kyūhin no kotoba)	nouns(Thật danh từ,jitsumeishi)	numerals(Sổ từ,sūshi)	pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)		particles(Quan hệ từ ／ hậu trí từ,kankeishi / kōchishi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Gian đầu từ,kantōshi)
Ōtsuki Fumihiko	1889^[21]	eight parts of speech(Bát phẩm từ,happinshi^[c])	nouns(Danh(メイ)Từ(シ),meishi)			adjectives(Hình(ケイ)Dung(ヨウ)Từ(シ),keiyōshi)		verbs(Động(ドウ)Từ(シ),dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ(ジヨ)Động(ドウ)Từ(シ),jodōshi)	particles(Thiên(テ)Nhĩ(ニ)Viễn(ヲ)Ba(ハ),tenioha)				adverbs(Phó(フク)Từ(シ),fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp(セツ)Tục(ゾク)Từ(シ),setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm(カン)Động(ドウ)Từ(シ),kandōshi)
Ōtsuki Fumihiko	1897^[22]	eight parts of speech(Bát phẩm từ,happinshi^[c])	nouns(Danh(メイ)Từ(シ),meishi)			adjectives(Hình(ケイ)Dung(ヨウ)Từ(シ),keiyōshi)		verbs(Động(ドウ)Từ(シ),dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ(ジヨ)Động(ドウ)Từ(シ),jodōshi)	particles(Hộ(テ)Nhĩ(ニ)Hồ(ヲ)Ba(ハ),tenioha)				adverbs(Phó(フク)Từ(シ),fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp(セツ)Tục(ゾク)Từ(シ),setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm(カン)Động(ドウ)Từ(シ),kandōshi)
Ochiai Naobumi	1890^[23]	nine parts of speech	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình trạng ngôn,keijōgen)		verbs(Tác dụng ngôn,sayōgen)	auxiliaries(Động trợ từ,dōjoji)	particles(Tĩnh trợ từ,seijoji)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Thán từ,tanshi)
	1893^[24]	nine parts of speech	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Tác dụng từ,sayōshi)	auxiliaries(Động từ ／ động trợ từ,dōji / dōjoji)	particles(Thể từ,taiji)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Thán từ,tanshi)
	1895^[25]	eleven parts of speech(Thập nhất phẩm từ,jūippinshi)	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)	numerals(Sổ từ,sūshi)	pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ ／ hình trạng ngôn,keiyōshi / keijōgen)		verbs(Động từ ／ tác dụng ngôn,dōshi / sayōgen)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ ／ động trợ từ,jodōshi / dōjoji)	particles(Trợ từ ／ tĩnh trợ từ ／ hộ nhĩ hồ ba,joji / seijoji / tenioha)	affixes(Trợ ngữ,jogyo)			adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ ／ gian đầu từ ／ thán từ ／ cảm thán từ,kandōshi / kantōshi / tanshi / kantanshi)
	1897^[26]	eleven parts of speech(Thập nhất phẩm từ,jūippinshi)	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)	numerals(Sổ từ,sūshi)	pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	verbs(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joji)	affixes(Trợ ngữ,jogyo)			adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm thán từ,kantanshi)
	1915^[27]	twelve parts of speech	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)	numerals(Sổ từ,sūshi)	pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	verbs(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joji)	prefixes(Tiếp đầu ngữ,settōgo)	suffixes(Tiếp vĩ ngữ,setsubigo)		adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm thán từ,kantanshi)
Tejima Haruji	1890^[28]	seven parts of speech(Thất chủng,shichishu)	nouns(Danh ngôn,meigen)		pronouns(Đại danh ngôn,daimeigen)	verbs(Dụng ngôn,yōgen)				particles(Hậu trí ngôn,kōchigen)				adverbs(Phó ngôn,fukugen)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục ngôn,setsuzokugen)	interjections(Cảm thán ngôn,kantangen)
Tejima Haruji	1899^[29]	eight parts of speech(Bát chủng,hasshu)	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	verbs(Động từ,dōshi)				particles(Hậu trí từ,kōchishi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm thán từ,kantanshi)	attributives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)
Takada Utarō	1899^[30]	nine parts of speech(Cửu chủng の từ,kyūshu no kotoba)	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	verbs(Hình trạng ngôn ／ hình dung động từ,keijōgen / keiyō dōshi)		verbs(Tác dụng ngôn ／ tác dụng động từ,sayōgen / sayō dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ dụng từ,joyōji)	particles(Trợ thể từ ／ trợ thể từ,jotaiji)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm thán từ,kantanshi)
Ōwada Takeki	1891^[31]	seven parts of speech(Thất phẩm từ,shichihinshi)	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)			adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)		particles(Hậu từ,kōshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm từ,kanshi)
Ōwada Takeki	1901^[32]	eight parts of speech(Bát(はつ)Phẩm(ぴん)Từ(し),happinshi)	nouns(Danh(めい)Từ(し),meishi)		pronouns(Đại(だい)Danh(めい)Từ(し),daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình(けい)Dung(よう)Từ(し)／Hình(けい)Trạng(じやう)Ngôn(げん),keiyōshi / keijōgen)		verbs(Động(どう)Từ(し),dōshi)		particles(Hậu(こう)Từ(し)／Hậu(こう)Trí(ち)Từ(し),kōshi / kōchishi)				adverbs(Phó(ふく)Từ(し),fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp(せつ)Tục(ぞく)Từ(し),setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm(かん)Từ(し)／Cảm(かん)Thán(たん)Từ(し),kanshi / kantanshi)
Takatsu Kuwasaburō	1891^[33]	ten parts of speech	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Bổ trợ từ,hojoshi)	particles(Quan hệ từ,kankeishi)	affixes(Phụ gia từ,fukashi)			adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
Okakura Yoshisaburō	1891^[34]	nine parts of speech	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)	numerals(Sổ từ,sūshi)	pronouns(Chỉ từ,shishi)	adjectives(Hình trạng từ,keijōshi)		verbs(Động tác từ,dōsashi)	auxiliaries(Trợ từ,joji)					adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp từ,sesshi)	interjections(Cảm từ ／ hoán từ,kanshi)
Hayama Hisanori	1891^[35]	eight parts of speech(BátPhẩm(ぴん)Từ(し),happinshi)	nouns(Danh(めい)Từ(し),meishi)		pronouns(Đại(だい)Danh(めい)Từ(し),daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình(けい)Dung(よう)Từ(し),keiyōshi)		verbs(Động(どう)Từ(し),dōshi)		particles(Hậu(こう)Từ(し),kōshi)				adverbs(Phó(ふく)Từ(し),fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp(せつ)Tục(ぞく)Từ(し),setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm(かん)Thán(たん)Từ(し),kantanshi)
Hirata Moritane	1893^[36]	eight parts of speech	nouns(Thật danh từ,jitsumeishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)		particles(Trợ thành từ,joseishi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm thán từ,kantanshi)
Shinbo Iwaji	1896^[37]	eight parts of speech(Bát phẩm từ,happinshi^[c])	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)		particles(Hậu từ,kōshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,teishi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm thán từ,kantanshi)
Shiratori Kikuji	1893^[38]	nine parts of speech	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)			adjectives(Hình dung động từ,keiyō dōshi)		verbs(Tác dụng động từ,sayō dōshi)	auxiliaries(Động từ,dōji)	particles(Tĩnh từ,seiji)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm thán từ,kantanshi)		adverbial forms(Thiêm từ ／ phát ngữ,tenshi / hatsugo)
Shiratori Kikuji	1898^[39]	ten parts of speech(Thập chủng,jisshu)	nouns(Danh từ ／ thể ngôn,meishi / taigen)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ ／ tác dụng ngôn,dōshi / sayōgen)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Hộ nhĩ hồ ba ／ hộ nhĩ ba,tenioha / teniha)	affixes(Quan từ,kanshi)			adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
Matsushita Daizaburō	1898^[40]	eight parts of speech(Bát phẩm từ,happinshi^[c])	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình trạng từ,keijōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)					postpositions(Hậu trí từ,kōchishi)	adverbs(Trình từ,teishi)^[f]	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
	1901^[41]	eight parts of speech(Bát phẩm từ,happinshi^[c])	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình trạng từ,keijōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)					postpositions(Hậu trí từ,kōchishi)	adverbs(Tiếp dụng từ,setsuyōshi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Gian đầu từ,kantōshi)
	1924^[42]	five parts of speech(Ngũ phẩm từ,gohinshi)	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)			verbs(Động từ,dōshi)								adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)		interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)	attributives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)^[g]
	1928^[43]	five parts of speech(Ngũ phẩm từ,gohinshi)	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)			verbs(Động từ,dōshi)								adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)		interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)	attributives(Phó thể từ,fukutaishi)^[h]
Morishita Matsue	1900^[44]	eight parts of speech(Bát phẩm từ,happinshi^[c])	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ từ,joshi)					adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
Matsudaira Shizuka	1900^[45]	nine parts of speech(Cửu phẩm ／ cửu phẩm từ,kyūhin / kyūhinshi)	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
Matsudaira Shizuka	1908^[46]	ten parts of speech	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)	numerals(Sổ từ,sūshi)	pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
Mitsuchi Chūzō	1901^[47]	nine parts of speech(Cửu phẩm từ,kyūhinshi)	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
Kanai Yasuzō	1901^[48]	ten parts of speech	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)	numerals(Sổ từ,sūshi)	pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(てにをは,tenioha)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm từ,kanshi)
Ishikawa Kuraji	1901^[49]	nine parts of speech(Cửu ひんし)	nouns(なことば,nakotoba)		pronouns(かえことば,kaekotoba)	adjectives(さまことば,samakotoba)		verbs(わざことば,wazakotoba)	auxiliaries(すけことば,sukekotoba)	particles(あとことば,atokotoba)				adverbs(そえことば,soekotoba)	conjunctions(つなぎことば,tsunagikotoba)	interjections(なげきことば,nagekikotoba)
Suzuki Nobuyuki	1902^[50]	ten parts of speech(Thập chủng,jisshu)	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)	numerals(Sổ từ,sūshi)	pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(テニヲハ,tenioha)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
	1904^[51]	ten parts of speech(Thập chủng,jisshu)	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)	numerals(Sổ từ,sūshi)	pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)		affixes(Tiếp từ,setsuji)			adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm thán từ ／ thán từ,kantanshi / tanshi)
	1906^[52]	ten parts of speech(Thập chủng,jisshu)	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)	numerals(Sổ từ,sūshi)	pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	affixes(Từ,ji)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm thán từ ／ cảm thán từ,kantanshi)
Haga Yaichi	1905^[53]	ten parts of speech(Thập phẩm từ,jippinshi^[c])	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)	numerals(Sổ từ,sūshi)	pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
Yoshioka Kyōsuke	1906^[54]	ten parts of speech	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)	numerals(Sổ từ,sūshi)	pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Thiên nhĩ hồ ba,tenioha)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm thán từ,kantanshi)
Yoshioka Kyōsuke	1933^[55]	ten parts of speech	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)	numerals(Sổ từ,sūshi)	pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm thán từ,kantanshi)
Mitsuya Shigematsu	1908^[56]	nine parts of speech(Thất từ nhị từ,shichishi niji)^[i]	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ ／ động trợ từ ／ trợ dụng ngôn,jodōshi / dōjoji / joyōgen)	particles(てにをは／ tĩnh trợ từ ／ trợ thể ngôn,tenioha / seijoji / jotaigen)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
Hoshina Kōichi	1909^[57]	ten parts of speech	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)	numerals(Sổ từ,sūshi)	pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
Hoshina Kōichi	1917^[58]	nine parts of speech	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
Tsuge Zenzō	1916^[59]	six parts of speech(Lục phẩm từ,roppinshi)	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ từ,joji)					adverbs(Ngữ từ,gyoji)
Yamada Yoshio	1917^[60]	nine parts of speech(Cửu phẩm từ,kyūhinshi)	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
	1922^[61]^[62]	ten parts of speech(Thập phẩm từ,jippinshi^[c])	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)	numerals(Sổ từ,sūshi)	pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
	1938^[63]	nine parts of speech	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
Fujimura TsukuruandShimazu Hisamoto	1921^[64]	nine parts of speech(Cửu phẩm từ,kyūhinshi)	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
Yoshizawa Yoshinori	1923^[65]	ten parts of speech	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)	numerals(Sổ từ,sūshi)	pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
Hashimoto Shinkichi	1935^[66]	nine parts of speech(Cửu phẩm từ,kyūhinshi)	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
Tōjō Misao	1937^[67]	eleven parts of speech	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)	numerals(Sổ từ,sūshi)	pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)	adjectival verbs(Hình dung động từ,keiyō dōshi)	verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
Hiroshima Higher Normal School	1937^[68]	ten parts of speech	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)	adjectival verbs(Hình dung động từ,keiyō dōshi)	verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
Iwai Yoshio	1937^[69]	ten parts of speech	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)	adjectival verbs(Hình dung động từ,keiyō dōshi)	verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)
Kindaichi Kyōsuke	1939^[70]	nine parts of speech(Cửu phẩm từ,kyūhinshi)	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)		pronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi)	adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)		verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Gian đầu từ,kantōshi)
Iwabuchi Etsutarō	1943^[71]	ten parts of speech	nouns(Danh từ,meishi)			adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)	adjectival verbs(Hình dung động từ,keiyō dōshi)	verbs(Động từ,dōshi)	auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi)	particles(Trợ từ,joshi)				adverbs(Phó từ,fukushi)	conjunctions(Tiếp tục từ,setsuzokushi)	interjections(Cảm động từ,kandōshi)	attributives(Liên thể từ,rentaishi)

The termkeiyō dōshi(Hình dung động từ,lit. 'adjectival verb')assumed different meanings, such as a verb form (ren'yōkei(Liên dụng hình)^[72]orrentaikei(Liên thể hình)^[73]) that precedes a noun, or as a proposed alternative tokeiyōshi(Hình dung từ),because Japanese "adjectives" are verb-like in nature, unlike European adjectives.^[74]^[75]As shown in the table, Matsushita Daizaburō (1924) usedkeiyōshiexplicitly for the Eurocentric idea of adjectives as words that precede nouns, while reservingkeiyō dōshifor Japanese "adjectives" as verb-like words (although later in 1928, he swapped outkeiyōshiforfukutaishi(Phó thể từ)to avoid confusion, on the model offukushi(Phó từ)as words that precede verbs). Ochiai Naobumi (1895) definedkeiyō dōshinot as a grammatical category, but as a semantic one with meanings similar to those ofstative verbs(rakka yuki-ninitari(Lạc hoa tuyết にTự たり,lit. 'as for falling flowers, theyare likesnow'),yama-wa enpō-niari(Sơn は viễn phương にTại り,lit. 'as for the mountain, itisfar away')).^[76]It was not untilHaga Yaichi's usage in 1905 thatkeiyō dōshicame to be refer to adjectival words whoseshūshikei(Chung chỉ hình)ended withnari(なり)ortari(たり)^[77]^[78](in modern Japanese, they end withda(だ)).

Thegakkō bunpō(Học giáo văn pháp,lit. 'school grammar')of today has followedIwabuchi Etsutarō's model outlined in his 1943 grammar,Chūtō Bunpō(Trung đẳng văn pháp),compiled for theMinistry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture(Văn bộ tỉnh,Monbushō).^[79]It recognizes 10 parts of speech as shown in the table.

Among historical classifications, the grammarianMatsushita Daizaburōnotably compared his own terminology to the terminologies translated from and modeled after European ones at the time.^[80]^[81]^[82]In particular, he rejected the equation of what were dubbedkeiyōshi(Hình dung từ)in Japanese to the concept of "adjectives" in European grammars, although he revised his systems over the years, which ended up conforming to the popular usage of the termkeiyōshi.According to Matsushita (1930):^[82]

Matsushita Daizaburō's own terminology			European-based terminology for Japanese grammar^[j]	European-based terminology for European grammars^[k]	English terminology
meishi(Danh từ)	jisshitsu meishi(Thật chất danh từ)^[l]	honmeishi(Bổn danh từ)	meishi(Danh từ)		noun
		daimeishi(Đại danh từ)	daimeishi(Đại danh từ)	daimeishi(Đại danh từ)	pronoun
		mitei meishi(Vị định danh từ)^[m]	daimeishi(Đại danh từ)
	keishiki meishi(Hình thức danh từ)^[n]		^[o]
fukutaishi(Phó thể từ)^[p]			^[q]	keiyōshi(Hình dung từ)	adjective
dōshi(Động từ)	keiyōshi(Hình dung từ)^[r]		keiyōshi(Hình dung từ)	^[s]
dōshi(Động từ)	dōsashi(Động tác từ)^[t]		dōshi(Động từ)		verb
fukushi(Phó từ)	jisshitsu fukushi(Thật chất phó từ)		fukushi(Phó từ)		adverb
	keishiki fukushi(Hình thức phó từ)	setsuzokushi(Tiếp tục từ)			conjunction
	keishiki fukushi(Hình thức phó từ)	kichaku fukushi(Quy trứ phó từ)		zenchishi(Tiền trí từ)	preposition
kandōshi(Cảm động từ)				kantōshi(Gian đầu từ)^[u]	interjection

Japanese as a topic-prominent language

Indiscourse pragmatics,the termtopicrefers to what a section of discourse is about. At the beginning of a section of discourse, the topic is usually unknown, in which case it is usually necessary to explicitly mention it. As the discourse carries on, the topic need not be the grammatical subject of each new sentence.

Starting withMiddle Japanese,the grammar evolved so as to explicitly distinguish topics from nontopics. This is done by two distinctparticles(short words which do not change form). Consider the following pair of sentences:

Khuyển

inu

dog

が

ga

NONTOPIC

サンド

sando

sandwich

を

o

OBJ

Thực べている.

tabeteiru

eat

Khuyển

inu

dog

は

wa

TOPIC

サンド

sando

sandwich

を

o

OBJ

Thực べている.

tabeteiru

eat

In the first sentence the dog(Khuyển,inu)is not a discourse topic—not yet; in the second sentence it is a discourse topic. In linguistics (specifically, in discourse pragmatics) a sentence such as the second one (withwa) is termed apresentationalsentence because its function in the discourse is to presentdogas a topic, to "broach it for discussion". Once areferenthas been established as the topic of the current monolog or dialog, then in (formal) modern Japanese its marking will change fromgatowa.

To better explain the difference, the first sentence can be translated to "There's a dog eating a sandwich", while the second sentence can be translated to "You know the dog? It's eating a sandwich"; these renderings reflect a discourse fragment in which "the dog" is being established as the topic of an extended discussion. The first sentence answers the question "What is going on?," whereas the second sentence answers the question "What is the dog doing?"

Liberal omission of the subject of a sentence

The grammaticalsubjectiscommonly omittedin Japanese, as in

Nhật bổn

nihon

Japan

に

ni

LOC

Hành きました

ikimashita

go-POL-PFV

went to Japan

Subjects are mentioned when a topic is introduced, or in situations where an ambiguity might result from their omission. The preceding example sentence would most likely be uttered in the middle of a discourse, where who it is that "went to Japan" will be clear from what has already been said (or written).

Sentences, phrases and words

Text(Văn chương,bunshō)is composed ofsentences(Văn,bun),which are in turn composed ofphrases(Văn tiết,bunsetsu),which are its smallest coherent components. LikeChineseand classicalKorean,written Japanese does not typically demarcate words with spaces; its agglutinative nature further makes the concept of awordrather different from words inEnglish.The reader identifies word divisions by semantic cues and a knowledge of phrase structure. Phrases have asinglemeaning-bearing word, followed by a string ofsuffixes,auxiliary verbsandparticlesto modify its meaning and designate its grammatical role.

Thái dương が

taiyō ga

sunSBJ

Đông の

higashi no

eastPOSS

Không に

sora ni

skyLOC

Thăng る.

noboru

rise

The sun rises in the eastern sky.

Some scholarsromanizeJapanese sentences by inserting spaces only at phrase boundaries (i.e.,"taiyō-ga higashi-no sora-ni noboru"), treating an entire phrase as a single word. This represents an almost purely phonological conception of where one word ends and the next begins. There is some validity in taking this approach:phonologically,thepostpositionalparticlesmerge with the structural word that precedes them,and within aphonologicalphrase, thepitchcan have at most one fall. Usually, however, grammarians adopt a more conventional concept ofword(単 ngữ,tango),one which invokes meaning and sentence structure.

Phrasal movement

In Japanese, phrasal constituents can be moved to the beginning or the end of the sentence. Leftward movement of a phrasal constituent is referred to as "scrambling".

Word classification

In linguistics generally, words and affixes are often classified into two major word categories:lexicalwords,those that refer to the world outside of a discourse, andfunctionwords—also including fragments of words—which help to build the sentence in accordance with the grammar rules of the language. Lexical words include nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and sometimes prepositions and postpositions, while grammatical words or word parts include everything else. The native tradition in Japanese grammar scholarship seems to concur in this view of classification. This native Japanese tradition uses the terminologyjiritsugo(Tự lập ngữ,independent words),for words having lexical meaning, andfuzokugo(Phó chúc ngữ,auxiliary words),for words having a grammatical function.

Classical Japanese had some auxiliary verbs (i.e., they were independent words) which have become grammaticized in modern Japanese as inflectional suffixes, such as the past tense suffix-ta(which might have developed as a contraction of-te ari).

Traditional scholarship proposes a system of word classes differing somewhat from the above-mentioned.^{[citation needed]}The "independent" words have the following categories.

katsuyōgo(Hoạt dụng ngữ),word classes which have inflections

dōshi(Động từ),verbs

keiyōshi(Hình dung từ),i-type adjectives

keiyōdōshi(Hình dung động từ),na-type adjectives

hikatsuyōgo(Phi hoạt dụng ngữ)ormukatsuyōgo(Vô hoạt dụng ngữ),word classes which do not have inflections^{[citation needed]}

meishi(Danh từ),nouns

daimeishi(Đại danh từ),pronouns

fukushi(Phó từ),adverbs

setsuzokushi(Tiếp 続 từ),conjunctions

kandōshi(Cảm động từ),interjections

rentaishi(Liên thể từ),prenominals

Ancillary words also divide into a nonconjugable class, containing grammatical particles(Trợ từ,joshi)andcounter words(Trợ sổ từ,josūshi),and a conjugable class consisting of auxiliary verbs(Trợ động từ,jodōshi).There is not wide agreement among linguists as to the English translations of the above terms.

Controversy over the characterization of nominal adjectives

Uehara (1998)^[83]observes that Japanese grammarians have disagreed as to the criteria that make some words inflectional and others not, in particular, the nominal adjectives –keiyōdōshi(Hình dung động từ)orna-adjectives. (It is not disputed that nouns likehon'book' are non-inflectional and that verbs andi-adjectives are inflectional.) The claim that nominal adjectives are inflectional rests on the claim that the elementda,regarded as a copula by proponents of non-inflectional nominal adjectives, is really a suffix—an inflection. That is,kireida('it is pretty')is a one-word sentence, not a two-word sentence,kirei da.However, numerous constructions show thatdais less bound to the roots of nouns and nominal adjectives than-iand-(r)uare to the roots ofi-adjectives and verbs, respectively.

(1) Reduplication for emphasis

Hora! Hon, hon!('See! Itisa book!')

Hora! Kirei, kirei!('See! Itispretty!')

Hora! Furu-i, furu-i!('See! Itisold!')(the adjectival inflection-icannot be left off)

Hora! Ik-u, ik-u!('See! Itdoesgo!')(the verbal inflection-ucannot be left off)

(2) Questions. In Japanese, questions are formed by adding the particleka(or in colloquial speech, just by changing theintonationof the sentence).^[84]

Hon ka?('Is it a book?')

Kirei ka?('Is it pretty?')

Furu-i ka?('Is it old?)(-icannot be left off)

Ik-u ka?('Does it go?')(-ucannot be left off)

(3) Several epistemic modality predicates, e.g.,mitai('seem like')

Hon mitai da('It seems to be a book')

Kirei mitai da('It seems to be pretty')

Furu-i mitai da('It seems to be old')(-icannot be left off)

Ik-u mitai da('It seems to go')(-ucannot be left off)

On the basis of such constructions, Uehara finds that the copuladais not suffixal and that nominal adjectives pattern with nouns in being non-inflectional.

Similarly,Eleanor Jordenconsiders this class of words a kind of nominal, not adjective, and refers to them asna-nominals in her textbookJapanese: The Spoken Language.

Nouns

Japanese has nogrammatical gender,number,orarticles;though the demonstrativesono(その,"that, those" ),is often translatable as "the". Thus, linguists agree that Japanesenounsarenoninflecting:neko(Miêu)can be translated as "cat", "cats", "a cat", "the cat", "some cats" and so forth, depending on context. However, as part of the extensive pair of grammatical systems that Japanese possesses forhonorification(making discourse deferential to the addressee or even to a third party) and politeness, nouns too can be modified. Nouns take politeness prefixes (which have not been regarded as inflections):o-for native nouns, andgo-for Sino-Japanese nouns. A few examples are given in the following table. In a few cases, there issuppletion,as with the first of the examples given below, ' phạn (meal/rice)'. (Note that while these prefixes are almost always written inhiraganaaso-(お〜)orgo-(ご〜),theNgựkanjirepresents bothoandgoin formal writing.)

Respectful forms of nouns
meaning	plain	respectful
meal	meshi(Phạn)	go-han(ご phạn)
money	kane(Kim)	o-kane(お kim)
body	karada(Thể)	o-karada(お thể) onmi(Ngự thân)
word(s)	kotoba(Ngôn diệp)	o-kotoba(お ngôn diệp) mikotonori(Chiếu)

Lacking number, Japanese does not differentiate betweencountandmass nouns.A small number of nouns havecollectivesformed byreduplication(possibly accompanied by voicing and related processes (rendaku)); for example:hito(Nhân,'person')andhitobito(Nhân 々,'people').Reduplication is notproductive.Words in Japanese referring to more than one of something are collectives, notplurals.Hitobito,for example, means "a lot of people" or "people in general"; it is never used to mean "two people". A phrase likeedo no hitobitowould be taken to mean "the people ofEdo",or" the population of Edo ", not" two people from Edo "or even" a few people from Edo ". Similarly,yamayamameans "many mountains".

A limited number of nouns have collective forms that refer to groups of people. Examples includewatashi-tachi(Tư たち,'we');anata-tachi(あなたたち,'you' [plural]);bokura(Phó ら,'we' (less formal, more masculine)).One uncommon personal noun,ware(Ngã,'I', or in some cases, 'you'),has a much more common reduplicative collective form:wareware(Ngã 々,'we').

The suffixes-tachi(Đạt)and-ra(Đẳng)are by far the most common collectivizing suffixes. These are, again, not pluralizing suffixes:tarō-tachidoes not mean "some number of people named Taro", but instead indicates the group including Taro. Depending on context,tarō-tachimight be translated into "Taro and his friends", "Taro and his siblings", "Taro and his family", or any other logical grouping that has Taro as the representative. Some words with collectives have become fixed phrases and (commonly) refer to one person. Specifically,kodomo(Tử cung,'child')andtomodachi(Hữu đạt,'friend')can be singular, even though-[t]omoand-[t]achiwere originally collectivizing in these words; to unambiguously refer to groups of them, an additional collectivizing suffix is added:kodomo-tachi(Tử cung たち,'children')andtomodachi-tachi(Hữu đạt たち,'friends'),thoughtomodachi-tachiis somewhat uncommon.Tachiis sometimes applied to inanimate objects,kuruma(Xa,'car')andkuruma-tachi(Xa たち,'cars'),for example, but this usage is colloquial and indicates a high level of anthropomorphisation and childlikeness, and is not more generally accepted as standard.

Grammatical case

Grammatical casesin Japanese are marked byparticlesplaced after the nouns.^[85]A distinctive feature of Japanese is the presence of two cases which are roughly equivalent to the nominative case in other languages: one representing thesentence topic,other representing the subject. The most important case markers are the following:

Nominative–ga(が)for subject,wa(は)for thetopic
Genitive–no(の)
Dative–ni(に)
Accusative–o(を)
Lative–e(へ),used for destination direction (like in "to some place" )
Ablative–kara(から),used for source direction (like in "from some place" )
Instrumental/Locative–de(で)

Pronouns

Common pronouns
person	very informal	plain, informal	polite
first	ore(Yêm,male) atashi(あたし,female)	boku(Phó,male) watashi(Tư,gender neutral)	watashi(Tư) watakushi(Tư)
second	anta(あんた) omae(お tiền)	kimi(Quân) anata(あなた)	anata(Quý phương) sochira(そちら)
third	aitsu(あいつ,pejorative)	kare(Bỉ,referring to males) kanojo(Bỉ nữ,referring to females) ano hito(あの nhân)	ano kata(あの phương)

Although many grammars and textbooks mentionpronouns(Đại danh từ,daimeishi),Japanese lacks true pronouns. (Daimeishican be considered a subset of nouns.) Strictly speaking, linguistic pronouns do not take modifiers^{[citation needed]},but Japanesedaimeishido. For example,se no takai kare(Bối の cao い bỉ,lit. "tall he" )is valid in Japanese. Also, unlike true pronouns, Japanesedaimeishiare notclosed-class;newdaimeishiare introduced and old ones go out of use relatively quickly.

A large number ofdaimeishireferring to people are translated as pronouns in their most common uses. Examples:kare(Bỉ,he);kanojo(Bỉ nữ,she);watashi(Tư,I);see also the adjoining table or a longer list.^[86]Some of these "personal nouns" such asonore(Kỷ,I (exceedingly humble)),orboku(Phó,I (young male)),also have second-person uses:onore(おのれ)in second-person is an extremely rude "you", andbokuin second-person is a diminutive "you" used for young boys.Kareandkanojoalso mean "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" respectively, and this usage of the words is possibly more common than the use as pronouns.

Like othersubjects,personaldaimeishiare seldom used and are de-emphasized in Japanese. This is partly because Japanese sentences do not always require explicit subjects, and partly because names or titles are often used where pronouns would appear in a translation:

“Mộc hạ さん

"Kinoshita-san

は,

wa,

Bối

se

が

ga

Cao い

takai

です

desu

ね.”

ne. "

(addressing Mr. Kinoshita) "You're pretty tall, aren't you?"

“Chuyên vụ,

"Senmu,

Minh nhật

asu

Phúc cương thị

Fukuoka-shi

Tây khu

nishi-ku

の

no

Sơn bổn thương sự

Yamamoto-shōji

の

no

Xã trường

shachō

に

ni

Hội って

atte

いただけます

itadakemasu

か?”

ka? "

(addressing the managing director) "Would it be possible for you to meet the president of Yamamoto Trading Co. inWest Ward, Fukuokatomorrow? "

The possible referents ofdaimeishiare sometimes constrained depending on the order of occurrence. The following pair of examples from Bart Mathias^[87]illustrates one such constraint.

Bổn điền quân

Honda-kun

に

ni

Hội って,

atte,

Bỉ

kare

の

no

Bổn

hon

を

o

Phản した.

kaeshita

(I) met Honda and returned his book. ( "His" here can refer to Honda.)

Bỉ

Kare

に

ni

Hội って,

atte,

Bổn điền quân

Honda-kun

の

no

Bổn

hon

を

o

Phản した.

kaeshita

(I) met him and returned Honda's book. (Here, "him" cannot refer to Honda.)

Reflexive pronouns

English has a reflexive form of eachpersonal pronoun(himself,herself,itself,themselves,etc.); Japanese, in contrast, has one main reflexivedaimeishi,namelyjibun(Tự phân),which can also mean 'I'. The uses of the reflexive (pro)nouns in the two languages are very different, as demonstrated by the following literal translations (*=impossible,??=ambiguous):

example	reason
＊ * Lịch sử Rekishi は wa Tự phân jibun を o Sào り phản す. kurikaesu. ＊ lịch sử は tự phân を sào り phản す. * Rekishi wa jibun o kurikaesu. History repeats itself.	the target ofjibunmust be animate
ひろし Hiroshi は wa Kiện tư Kenji に ni Tự phân jibun の no こと koto を o Thoại した. hanashita. ひろしは kiện tư に tự phân のことを thoại した. Hiroshi wa Kenji ni jibun no koto o hanashita. Hiroshi talked to Kenji about himself (=Hiroshi).	there is no ambiguity in this translation, as explained below
?? ?? Thành Makoto は wa Tĩnh tử Shizuko が ga Tự phân jibun を o Đại sự daiji に ni する suru こと koto を o Kỳ đãi kitai して shite いる. iru. ??Thành は tĩnh tử が tự phân を đại sự にすることを kỳ đãi している. ?? Makoto wa Shizuko ga jibun o daiji ni suru koto o kitai shite iru. *Makoto expects that Shizuko will take good care of himself (=Makoto; note that Shizuko is female). Either "Makoto expects that Shizuko will take good care of him", or "Makoto expects that Shizuko will take good care of herself."	jibuncan be in a different sentence or dependent clause, but its target is ambiguous

If the sentence has more than one grammatical or semantic subject, then the target ofjibunis the subject of theprimaryormost prominent action;thus in the following sentencejibunrefers unambiguously to Shizuko (even though Makoto is the grammatical subject) because the primary action is Shizuko's reading.^{[verification needed]}

Thành

Makoto

は

wa

Tĩnh tử

Shizuko

に

ni

Tự phân

jibun

の

no

Gia

uchi

で

de

Bổn

hon

を

o

Đọc ませた.

yomaseta.

Makoto made Shizuko read book(s) in her house.

In practice the main action is not always discernible, in which case such sentences are ambiguous. The use ofjibunin complex sentences follows non-trivial rules.

There are also equivalents tojibunsuch asmizukara.Other uses of thereflexive pronounin English are covered by adverbs likehitorideniwhich is used in the sense of "by oneself". For example,

Cơ giới

kikai

が

ga

ひとりでに

hitorideni

Động き xuất した.

ugokidashita.

The machine started operating by itself.

Change in a verb'svalencyis not accomplished by use of reflexive pronouns (in this Japanese is like English but unlike many other European languages). Instead, separate (but usually related)intransitive verbsandtransitive verbsare used. There is no longer any productive morphology to derive transitive verbs from intransitive ones, or vice versa.^{[clarification needed]}

Demonstratives

Demonstratives
	ko-	so-	a-	do-
-re	kore this one	sore that one	are that one over there	dore which one?
-no	kono (of) this	sono (of) that	ano (of) that over there	dono (of) what?
-nna	konna like this	sonna like that	anna like that over there	donna what sort of?
-ko	koko here	soko there	asoko¹ over there	doko where?
-chira²	kochira this way	sochira that way	achira that way over there	dochira which way?
-u³	kō in this manner	sō in that manner	ā¹ in that (other) manner	dō how? in what manner?
-itsu	koitsu this person	soitsu that person	aitsu that (other) person	doitsu who?

irregular formation
colloquially contracted to -cchi
-ouis represented by-ō

Demonstrativesoccur in theko-,so-,anda-series. Theko-(proximal) series refers to things closer to the speaker than the hearer, theso-(medial) series for things closer to the hearer, and thea-(distal) series for things distant to both the speaker and the hearer. Withdo-,demonstratives turn into the corresponding interrogative form. Demonstratives can also be used to refer to people, for example

“こちら

"Kochira

は

wa

Lâm さん

Hayashi-san

です.”

desu. "

"This is Mr. Hayashi."

Demonstratives limit, and therefore precede, nouns; thuskono hon(この bổn)for "this/my book", andsono hon(その bổn)for "that/your book".

When demonstratives are used to refer to things not visible to the speaker or the hearer, or to (abstract) concepts, they fulfill a related but differentanaphoricrole. The anaphoric distals are used for shared information between the speaker and the listener.

A:

Tiên nhật,

Senjitsu,

Trát hoảng

Sapporo

に

ni

Hành って

itte

Lai ました.

kimashita.

A: I visited Sapporo recently.

B:

あそこ

Asoko

( ＊そこ )

(*Soko)

は

wa

いつ

itsu

Hành って

itte

も

mo

いい

ii

Sở

tokoro

です

desu

ね.

ne.

B: Yeah, that's a great place to visit whenever you go.

Sokoinstead ofasokowould imply that B does not share this knowledge about Sapporo, which is inconsistent with the meaning of the sentence. The anaphoric medials are used to refer to experience or knowledge that is not shared between the speaker and listener.

Tá đằng:

Satō:

Điền trung

Tanaka

と

to

いう

iu

Nhân

hito

が

ga

Tạc nhật

kinō

Tử んだ

shinda

ん

n

だ

da

って.

tte...

Sato: I heard that a man called Tanaka died yesterday...

Sâm:

Mori:

えっ,

E',

Bổn đương?

hontō?

Mori: Oh, really?

Tá đằng:

Satō:

だから,

Dakara,

その

sono

( ＊あの )

(*ano)

Nhân,

hito,

Sâm さん

Mori-san

の

no

Tích

mukashi

の

no

Lân nhân

rinjin

じゃ

ja

なかった

nakatta

っけ?

kke?

Sato: It's why I asked... wasn't he an old neighbour of yours?

Again,anois inappropriate here because Sato does not (did not) know Tanaka personally. Theproximaldemonstratives do not have clear anaphoric uses. They can be used in situations where the distal series sound too disconnected:

Nhất thể

Ittai

Hà

nan

です

desu

か,

ka,

これ

kore

( ＊あれ )

(*are)

は

wa?

What on earth is this?

Conjugable words

Stem forms

Conjugative suffixes and auxiliary verbs are attached to the stem forms of the affixee. In modern Japanese, there are six stem forms, ordered following from the-a, -i, -u, -e, -oendings that these forms have in 5-row(Ngũ đoạn)verbs (according to theあ, い, う, え, おcollation order of Japanese), where terminal and attributive forms are the same for verbs (hence only 5 surface forms), but differ for nominals, notablyna-nominals.

Irrealis form(Vị nhiên hình,mizenkei)-a(and-ō): is used for plain negative (of verbs), causative and passive constructions. The most common use of this form is with the-naiauxiliary that turns verbs into their negative (predicate) form. (See Verbs below.) The-ōversion is used for volitional expression and formed by a euphonic change(Âm tiện,onbin).
Continuative form(Liên dụng hình,ren'yōkei)-i: is used in a linking role (a kind ofserial verb construction). This is the most productive stem form, taking on a variety of endings and auxiliaries, and can even occur independently in a sense similar to the-teending. This form is also used to negate adjectives.
Terminal form(Chung chỉ hình,shūshikei)-u: is used at the ends of clauses inpredicatepositions. This form is also variously known asplain form(Cơ bổn hình,kihonkei)ordictionary form(Từ thư hình,jishokei)– it is the form that verbs are listed under in a dictionary.
Attributive form(Liên thể hình,rentaikei)-u: is prefixed to nominals and is used to define or classify the noun, similar to arelative clausein English. In modern Japanese it is practically identical to the terminal form, except that verbs are generally not inflected for politeness; in old Japanese these forms differed. Further,na-nominals behave differently in terminal and attributive positions; seeAdjectival verbs and nouns,below.
Hypothetical form(仮 định hình,kateikei)-e: is used for conditional and subjunctive forms, using the-baending.
Imperative form(Mệnh lệnh hình,meireikei)-e: is used to turn verbs into commands. Adjectives do not have an imperative stem form.

The application of conjugative suffixes to stem forms follow certain euphonic principles(Âm tiện,onbin).

Verbs

Verbs(Động từ,dōshi)in Japanese are rigidly constrained to the end of a clause. This means that thepredicate positionis always located at the end of a sentence.

Miêu

Neko

Cat

は

wa

TOPIC

Ngư

sakana

fish

を

o

OBJECT

Thực べる

taberu

eat

"A cat eats fish"

The subject and objects of the verb are indicated by means ofparticles,and the grammatical functions of the verb (primarily tense and voice) are indicated by means ofconjugation.When the subject and the dissertative topic coincide, the subject is often omitted; if the verb is intransitive, the entire sentence may consist of a single verb. Verbs have two tenses indicated by conjugation, past and non-past. The semantic difference between present and future is not indicated by means of conjugation. Usually there is no ambiguity as context makes it clear whether the speaker is referring to the present or future. Voice and aspect are also indicated by means of conjugation, and possibly agglutinating auxiliary verbs. For example, the continuative aspect is formed by means of the continuative conjugation known as thegerundiveor-teform,and the auxiliary verbiru( "to be" );to illustrate,miru(Kiến る,"to see" )→mite iru(Kiến ている,"to be seeing" ).

Verbs can be semantically classified based on certain conjugations.

Stative verbs: indicate existential properties, such as "to be"(いる,iru),"to be able to do"(Xuất lai る,dekiru),"to need"(Yếu る,iru),etc. These verbs generally do not have a continuative conjugation with-irubecause they are semantically continuative already.
Continual verbs: conjugate with the auxiliary-iruto indicate the progressive aspect. Examples: "to eat"(Thực べる,taberu),"to drink"(Ẩm む,nomu),"to think"(Khảo える,kangaeru).To illustrate the conjugation,taberu(Thực べる,"to eat" )→tabete iru(Thực べている,"to be eating" ).
Punctual verbs: conjugate with-iruto indicate a repeated action, or a continuing state after some action. Example:shiru(Tri る,"to know" )→shitte iru(Tri っている,"to be knowing" );utsu(Đả つ,"to hit" )→utte iru(Đả っている,"to be hitting (repeatedly)" ).
Non-volitional verb: indicate uncontrollable action or emotion. These verbs generally have no volitional, imperative or potential conjugation. Examples:konomu(Hảo む,"to like / to prefer" [emotive]),mieru(Kiến える,"to be visible" [non-emotive]).
Movement verbs: indicate motion. Examples:aruku(Bộ く,"to walk" ),kaeru(Quy る,"to return" ).In the continuative form (see§ Verbal adverbs) they take the particlenito indicate a purpose.

There are other possible classes, and a large amount of overlap between the classes.

Lexically, nearly every verb in Japanese is a member of exactly one of the following three regularconjugation groups(see alsoJapanese godan and ichidan verbs).

Group 2a(Thượng nhất đoạn,kami ichidan,lit. upper 1-row): verbs with a stem ending in-i.The terminal stem form always rhymes with-iru.Examples:miru(Kiến る,"to see" ),kiru(Trứ る,"to wear" ).
Group 2b(Hạ nhất đoạn,shimo ichidan,lit. lower 1-row): verbs with a stem ending in-e.The terminal stem form always rhymes with-eru.Examples:taberu(Thực べる,"to eat" ),kureru(くれる,"to give" (to someone of lower or more intimate status)).(Some Group 1 verbs resemble Group 2b verbs, but their stems end inr-,not-e.)
Group 1(Ngũ đoạn,godan,lit. 5-row): verbs with a stem ending in a consonant. When this isr-and the verb ends in-eru,it is not apparent from the terminal form whether the verb is Group 1 or Group 2b, e.g.kaeru(Quy る,"to return" ).If the stem ends inw-,that consonant sound only appears in before the final-aof theirrealisform.

The "row" in the above classification means a row in thegojūontable. "Upper 1-row" means the row that is one row above the center row (theu-row) i.e. i-row. "Lower 1-row" means the row that is one row below the center row (theu-row) i.e.e-row. "5-row" means the conjugation runs through all 5 rows of thegojūontable. A conjugation is fully described by identifying both the row and the column in thegojūontable. For example,miru(Kiến る,"to see" )belongs toma-columni-row conjugation(マ hành thượng nhất đoạn hoạt dụng),taberu(Thực べる,"to eat" )belongs toba-columne-row conjugation(バ hành hạ nhất đoạn hoạt dụng),andkaeru(Quy る,"to return" )belongs tora-column 5-row conjugation(ラ hành ngũ đoạn hoạt dụng).

One should avoid confusing verbs inra-column 5-row conjugation(ラ hành ngũ đoạn hoạt dụng)with verbs ini-row conjugation(Thượng nhất đoạn hoạt dụng)ore-row conjugation(Hạ nhất đoạn hoạt dụng).For example,kiru(Thiết る,"to cut" )belongs tora-column 5-row conjugation(ラ hành ngũ đoạn hoạt dụng),whereas its homophonekiru(Trứ る,"to wear" )belongs toka-columni-row conjugation(カ hành thượng nhất đoạn hoạt dụng).Likewise,neru(Luyện る,"to knead" )belongs tora-column 5-row conjugation(ラ hành ngũ đoạn hoạt dụng),whereas its homophoneneru(Tẩm る,"to sleep" )belongs tona-columne-row conjugation(ナ hành hạ nhất đoạn hoạt dụng).

Historically, Classical Japanese had upper and lower 1-row groups(Thượng ・ hạ nhất đoạn,kami/shimo ichidan),upper and lower 2-row groups(Thượng ・ hạ nhị đoạn,kami/shimo nidan)and a 4-row group(Tứ đoạn,yodan).Thenidanverbs became most of theichidanverbs in modern Japanese (only a handful ofkami ichidanverbs and a singleshimo ichidanverb existed in classical Japanese). Theyodangroup was reclassified as thegodangroup during the post-WWII writing reform in 1946, to write Japanese as it is pronounced. Since verbs have migrated across groups in the history of the language, the conjugation of classical verbs cannot be ascertained from knowledge of modern Japanese alone.

Of the irregular classes, there are two:

sa-group: which has only one member,suru(する,"to do" ).In Japanese grammars these words are classified assa-hen(サ変),an abbreviation ofsa-gyō henkaku katsuyō(サ hành 変 cách hoạt dụng),sa-row irregular conjugation).
ka-group: which also has one member,kuru(Lai る,"to come" ).The Japanese name for this class iska-gyō henkaku katsuyō(カ hành 変 cách hoạt dụng)or simplyka-hen(カ変).

Classical Japanese had two further irregular classes, thena-group, which containedshinu(Tử ぬ,"to die" )andinu(Vãng ぬ,"to go" / "to die" ),thera-group, which included such verbs asari(あり),the equivalent of modernaru,as well as quite a number of extremely irregular verbs that cannot be classified.

The following table illustrates the stem forms of the above conjugation groups, with the root indicated with dots. For example, to find the hypothetical form of the group 1 verbkaku(Thư く),look in the second row to find its root,kak-,then in the hypothetical row to get the ending-e,giving the stem formkake.When there are multiple possibilities, they are listed in the order of increasing rarity.


Group	1		2a	2b	sa	ka
Example	tsuka(w).(Sử ・)	kak.(Thư ・)	mi.(Kiến ・)	tabe.(Thực べ・)	sa	ka
Irrealis form¹ (Vị nhiên hình,mizenkei)	tsukaw.a(Sử わ)² tsuka.o(Sử お)	kak.a(Thư か) kak.o(Thư こ)	mi.(Kiến)	tabe.(Thực べ)	sa(さ) shi(し) se(せ)	ko(Lai)
Continuative form (Liên dụng hình,ren'yōkei)	tsuka.i(Sử い)	kak.i(Thư き)	mi.(Kiến)	tabe.(Thực べ)	shi(し)	ki(Lai)
Terminal form (Chung chỉ hình,shūshikei)	tsuka.u(Sử う)	kak.u(Thư く)	mi.ru(Kiến る)	tabe.ru(Thực べる)	suru(する)	kuru(Lai る)
Attributive form	Same as terminal form
Hypothetical form (仮 định hình,kateikei)	tsuka.e(Sử え)	kak.e(Thư け)	mi.re(Kiến れ)	tabe.re(Thực べれ)	sure(すれ)	kure(Lai れ)
Imperative form (Mệnh lệnh hình,meireikei)	tsuka.e(Sử え)	kak.e(Thư け)	mi.ro(Kiến ろ) mi.yo(Kiến よ)	tabe.ro(Thực べろ) tabe.yo(Thực べよ)	shiro(しろ) seyo(せよ) sei(せい)	koi(Lai い)

The-aand-oirrealis forms for Group 1 verbs were historically one, but since the post-WWII spelling reforms they have been written differently. In modern Japanese the-oform is used only for the volitional mood and the-aform is used in all other cases; see also the conjugation table below.
The unexpected ending is due to the verb's root beingtsukaw-butw-only being pronounced before-ain modern Japanese.

The above are only the stem forms of the verbs; to these one must add various verb endings in order to get the fully conjugated verb. The following table lists the most common conjugations. Note that in some cases the form is different depending on the conjugation group of the verb. SeeJapanese verb conjugationsfor a full list.

	formation rule	group 1	group 2a	group 2b	sa-group	ka-group
	formation rule	kaku(Thư く)	miru(Kiến る)	taberu(Thực べる)	suru(する)	kuru(Lai る)
polite imperfective	cont. +masu(ます)	kaki.masu(Thư き・ます)	mi.masu(Kiến ・ます)	tabe.masu(Thực べ・ます)	shi.masu(し・ます)	ki.masu(Lai ・ます)
plain perfective	cont. +ta(た)	kai.ta(Thư い・た)²	mi.ta(Kiến ・た)	tabe.ta(Thực べ・た)	shi.ta(し・た)	ki.ta(Lai ・た)
plain negative imperfective	irrealis +nai(ない)	kaka.nai(Thư か・ない)	mi.nai(Kiến ・ない)	tabe.nai(Thực べ・ない)	shi.nai(し・ない)	ko.nai(Lai ・ない)
plain negative perfective	irrealis +nakatta(なかった)	kaka.nakatta(Thư か・なかった)	mi.nakatta(Kiến ・なかった)	tabe.nakatta(Thực べ・なかった)	shi.nakatta(し・なかった)	ko.nakatta(Lai ・なかった)
-teform (gerundive)	cont. +-te(て)	kai.te(Thư いて)²	mi.te(Kiến て)	tabe.te(Thực べて)	shi.te(して)	ki.te(Lai て)
provisional conditional	hyp. +ba(ば)	kake.ba(Thư け・ば)	mire.ba(Kiến れ・ば)	tabere.ba(Thực べれ・ば)	sure.ba(すれ・ば)	kure.ba(Lai れ・ば)
past conditional	cont. +tara(たら)	kai.tara(Thư いたら)²	mi.tara(Kiến たら)	tabe.tara(Thực べたら)	shi.tara(したら)	ki.tara(Lai たら)
volitional	irrealis +u(う)	kako.u(Thư こ・う)
volitional	irrealis +yō(よう)		mi.yō(Kiến ・よう)	tabe.yō(Thực べ・よう)	shi.yō(し・よう)	ko.yō(Lai ・よう)
passive	irrealis +reru(れる)	kaka.reru(Thư か・れる)			sa.reru(さ・れる)
passive	irrealis +rareru(られる)		mi.rareru(Kiến ・られる)	tabe.rareru(Thực べ・られる)		ko.rareru(Lai ・られる)
causative	irrealis +seru(せる)	kaka.seru(Thư か・せる)			sa.seru(さ・せる)
causative	irrealis +saseru(させる)		mi.saseru(Kiến ・させる)	tabe.saseru(Thực べ・させる)		ko.saseru(Lai ・させる)
potential	hyp. +ru(る)	kake.ru(Thư け・る)			dekiru(Xuất lai る)¹
potential	irrealis +rareru(られる)		mi.rareru(Kiến ・られる)	tabe.rareru(Thực べ・られる)		ko.rareru(Lai ・られる)

This is an entirely different verb;suru(する)has no potential form.
These forms change depending on the final syllable of the verb's dictionary form (whetheru, ku, gu, su,etc.). For details, seeEuphonic changes,below, and the articleJapanese verb conjugation.

The polite ending-masuconjugates as a group 1 verb, except that the negative imperfective and perfective forms are-masenand-masen deshitarespectively, and certain conjugations are in practice rarely if ever used. The passive and potential endings-reruand-rareru,and the causative endings-seruand-saseruall conjugate as group 2b verbs. Multiple verbal endings can therefore agglutinate. For example, a common formation is thecausative-passiveending:-sase-rareru.

Phó

Boku

は

wa

Tỷ

ane

に

ni

Nạp đậu

nattō

を

o

Thực べさせられた.

tabesaserareta.

Iwas made toeatnattōby my (elder) sister.

As should be expected, the vast majority of theoretically possible combinations of conjugative endings are not semantically meaningful.

Transitive and intransitive verbs

Japanese has a large variety of related pairs oftransitive verbs(that take a direct object) andintransitive verbs(that do not usually take a direct object), such as the transitivehajimeru(Thủy める,someone or something begins an activity),and the intransitivehajimaru(Thủy まる,an activity begins).^[88]^[89]


transitive verb	intransitive verb
One thing acts out the transitive verb on another Usually useso(を)to link to the direct object	The intransitive verb passively happens without direct intervention. Usually usesga(が)orwa(は)to link subject and verb.
Tiên sinh Sensei が ga Thụ nghiệp jugyō を o Thủy める. hajimeru. Tiên sinh が thụ nghiệp を thủy める. Sensei ga jugyō o hajimeru. The teacher starts the class.	Thụ nghiệp Jugyō が ga Thủy まる. hajimaru. Thụ nghiệp が thủy まる. Jugyō ga hajimaru. The class starts.
Xa Kuruma に ni Hà nani か ka を o Nhập れる ireru Xa に hà かを nhập れる Kuruma ni nani ka o ireru To put something in the car	Xa Kuruma に ni Nhập る hairu Xa に nhập る Kuruma ni hairu To enter the car
dasu(Xuất す,'to take/put out')	deru(Xuất る,'to exit')
kesu(Tiêu す,'to extinguish')	kieru(Tiêu える,'to go out')
akeru(Khai ける,'to open [something]')	aku(Khai く,'to open'/'to be open')
tsukeru(Phó ける,'to attach [something]')	tsuku(Phó く,'to attach'/'to be attached')
shimeru(Bế める,'to close [something]')	shimaru(Bế まる,'to close'/'to be closed')
mitsukeru(Kiến つける,'to find')	mitsukaru(Kiến つかる,'to be found')
nuku(Bạt く,'to extract')	nukeru(Bạt ける,'to come out')
okosu(Khởi こす,'to wake [someone] up')	okiru(Khởi きる,'to wake up')
umu(Sinh む,'to give birth')	umareru(Sinh まれる,'to be born')

Note: Some intransitive verbs (usually verbs of motion) take what looks like a direct object, but is not.^[90]For example,hanareru(Ly れる,to leave):

Tư

Watashi

は

wa

Đông kinh

Tōkyō

を

o

Ly れる.

hanareru.

I leave Tokyo.

Adjectival verbs and nouns

Semantically speaking, words that denote attributes or properties are primarily distributed between two morphological classes (there are also a few other classes):

adjectival verbs(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi,conventionally called "i-adjectives ")– these have roots and conjugating stem forms, and are semantically and morphologically similar tostative verbs.
adjectival nouns(Hình dung động từ,keiyōdōshi,lit. "adjectival verb", conventionally called "na-adjectives ")– these are nouns that combine with the copula.

Unlike adjectives in languages like English,i-adjectives in Japanese inflect for aspect and mood, like verbs. Japanese adjectives do not have comparative or superlative inflections; comparatives and superlatives have to be marked periphrastically using adverbs likemotto('more')andichiban('most').

Every adjective in Japanese can be used in anattributive position,and nearly every Japanese adjective can be used in apredicative position.There are a few Japanese adjectives that cannot predicate, known asrentaishi(Liên thể từ,attributives),which are derived from other word classes; examples includeōkina(Đại きな,"big" ),chiisana(Tiểu さな,"small" ),andokashina(おかしな,"strange" )which are all stylisticna-type variants of normali-type adjectives.

Alli-adjectives except forii(いい,good)have regular conjugations, andiiis irregular only in the fact that it is a changed form of the regular adjectiveyoi(Lương い)permissible in the terminal and attributive forms. For all other forms it reverts toyoi.

Stem forms for adjectives
	i-adjectives	na-adjectives
	yasu.(An ・い)	shizuka-(Tĩnh か-)
Irrealis form(Vị nhiên hình,mizenkei)	.karo(An かろ)	-daro(Tĩnh かだろ)
Continuative form(Liên dụng hình,ren'yōkei)	.ku(An く)	-de(Tĩnh かで)
Terminal form¹(Chung chỉ hình,shūshikei)	.i(An い)	-da(Tĩnh かだ)
Attributive form¹(Liên thể hình,rentaikei)	.i(An い)	-na(Tĩnh かな)/ -naru(Tĩnh かなる)
Hypothetical form(仮 định hình,kateikei)	.kere(An けれ)	-nara(Tĩnh かなら)
Imperative form²(Mệnh lệnh hình,meireikei)	.kare(An かれ)	-nare(Tĩnh かなれ)

The attributive and terminal forms were formerly.ki(An き)and.shi(An し),respectively; in modern Japanese these are used productively for stylistic reasons only, although manyset phrasessuch asnanashi(Danh vô し,anonymous)andyoshi(よし,[general positive interjection], sometimes writtenyosh),derive from them.
The imperative form is extremely rare in modern Japanese, restricted to set patterns likeosokare hayakare(Trì かれ tảo かれ,'sooner or later'),where they are treated as adverbial phrases. It is impossible for an imperative form to be in a predicate position.

Common conjugations of adjectives are enumerated below.iiis not treated separately, because all conjugation forms are identical to those ofyoi.

	i-adjectives yasui(An い,"cheap" )		na-adjectives shizuka(Tĩnh か,"quiet" )
informal nonpast	root +-i (Used alone, without the copula)	yasui(An い,"is cheap" )	root + copulada	shizuka da(Tĩnh かだ,"is quiet" )
informal past	cont. +atta(あった) (u+acollapse)	yasuk.atta(An かった,"was cheap" )	cont. +atta(あった) (e+acollapse)	shizuka d.atta(Tĩnh かだった,"was quiet" )
informal negative nonpast	cont. +(wa) nai((は)ない)¹	yasuku(wa)nai(An く(は)ない,"isn't cheap" )	cont. +(wa) nai((は)ない)	shizuka de (wa) nai(Tĩnh かで(は)ない,"isn't quiet" )
informal negative past	cont. +(wa) nakatta((は)なかった)¹	yasuku(wa)nakatta(An く(は)なかった,"wasn't cheap" )	cont. +(wa) nakatta((は)なかった)	shizuka de (wa) nakatta(Tĩnh かで(は)なかった,"wasn't quiet" )
polite nonpast	root +-i+ copuladesu(です)	yasui desu(An いです,"is cheap" )	root + copuladesu(です)	shizuka desu(Tĩnh かです,"is quiet" )
polite negative nonpast	arimasen(ありません)¹	yasuku arimasen(An くありません)	inf. cont +(wa) arimasen((は)ありません)	shizuka de wa arimasen(Tĩnh かではありません)
polite negative nonpast	inf. neg. non-past + copuladesu(です)¹	yasukunai desu(An くないです)	inf. cont +(wa) nai desu((は)ないです)	shizuka de wa nai desu(Tĩnh かではないです)
polite negative past	inf. cont +arimasen deshita(ありませんでした)	yasuku arimasen deshita(An くありませんでした)	inf. cont +(wa) arimasen deshita((は)ありませんでした)	shizuka de wa arimasen deshita(Tĩnh かではありませんでした)
polite negative past	inf. neg. past + copuladesu(です)¹	yasukunakatta desu(An くなかったです)	inf. neg. past +nakatta desu(なかったです)¹	shizuka de wa nakatta desu(Tĩnh かではなかったです)
-teform	cont. +te(て)	yasuku.te(An くて)	cont.	shizuka de(Tĩnh かで)
provisional conditional	hyp. +ba(ば)	yasukere.ba(An ければ)	hyp. (+ba(ば))	shizuka nara(ba)(Tĩnh かなら(ば))
past conditional	inf. past +ra(ら)	yasukatta.ra(An かったら)	inf. past +ra(ら)	shizuka datta.ra(Tĩnh かだったら)
volitional²	irrealis +u(う) /root +darō(だろう)	yasukarō(An かろう) /yasuidarō(An いだろう)	irrealis +u(う) = root +darō(だろう)	shizuka darō(Tĩnh かだろう)
adverbial	cont.	yasuku.(An く)	root +ni(に)	shizuka ni(Tĩnh かに)
degree(-ness)	root +sa(さ)	yasu-sa(An さ)	root +sa(さ)	shizuka-sa(Tĩnh かさ)

Note that these are just forms of thei-type adjectivenai(ない)
Since most adjectives describe non-volitional conditions, the volitional form is interpreted as "it is possible", if sensible. In some rare cases it is semi-volitional:yokarō(Lương かろう,'OK', lit: "let it be good" )in response to a report or request.

Adjectives too are governed by euphonic rules in certain cases, as noted in the section on it below. For the polite negatives ofna-type adjectives, see also the section below on the copulada(だ).

Copula (だda)

Thecopuladabehaves very much like a verb or an adjective in terms of conjugation.

Stem forms of the copula
Irrealis form(Vị nhiên hình,mizenkei)	de wa(では)
Continuative form(Liên dụng hình,ren'yōkei)	de(で)
Terminal form(Chung chỉ hình,shūshikei)	da(だ,informal) desu(です,polite) de gozaimasu(でございます,respectful)
Attributive form(Liên thể hình,rentaikei)	de aru(である)
Hypothetical form(仮 định hình,kateikei)	nara(なら)
Imperative form(Mệnh lệnh hình,meireikei)	deare(であれ)

Note that there are no potential, causative, or passive forms of the copula, just as with adjectives.

The following are some examples.

ジョンは học sinhだ.
JON wa gakuseida
"Johnisa student. "

Minh nhật も tình れなら,ピクニックしよう.
Ashita mo harenara,PIKUNIKKU shiyō
"Iftomorrowisclear too, let's have a picnic. "

In continuative conjugations,de wa(では)is often contracted in speech toja(じゃ);for some kinds of informal speechjais preferable tode wa,or is the only possibility.

Conjugations of the copula
	respectful	cont. +areba(あれば)
nonpast	informal	da(だ)
	polite	desu(です)
	respectful	de gozaimasu(でございます)
past	informal	cont. +atta(あった) datta(だった)
	polite	deshita(でした)
	respectful	de gozaimashita(でございました)
negative nonpast	informal	cont. +wa nai(はない)	ja nai(じゃない)
	polite	cont. +wa arimasen(はありません)	(じゃありません,ja arimasen)
	respectful	cont. +wa gozaimasen(はございません)	(じゃございません,ja gozaimasen)
negative past	informal	cont. +wa nakatta(はなかった)	ja nakatta(じゃなかった)
	polite	cont. +wa arimasen deshita(はありませんでした)	ja arimasen deshita(じゃありませんでした)
	respectful	cont. +wa gozaimasen deshita(はございませんでした)	ja gozaimasen deshita(じゃございませんでした)
conditional	informal	hyp. +ba(ば)
	polite	cont. +areba(あれば)
provisional	informal	nara(なら)
	polite	same as conditional
	respectful	same as conditional
volitional	informal	darō(だろう)
	polite	deshō(でしょう)
	respectful	de gozaimashō(でございましょう)
adverbial and-teforms	informal	cont.
	polite	cont. +arimashite(ありまして)
	respectful	cont. +gozaimashite(ございまして)

Euphonic changes(Âm tiện,onbin)

Historical sound change

Spelling changes
Archaic	Modern
a + u(あ＋う) a + fu(あ＋ふ)	ō(おう)
i + u(い＋う) i + fu(い＋ふ)	yū(ゆう)¹
u + fu(う＋ふ)	ū(うう)
e + u(え＋う) e + fu(え＋ふ)	yō(よう)
o + fu(お＋ふ)	ō(おう)
o + ho(お＋ほ) o + wo(お＋を)	ō(おお)
auxiliary verbmu(む)	n(ん)
medial or finalha(は)	wa(わ)
medial or finalhi(ひ),he(へ),ho(ほ)	i(い),e(え),o(お) (viawi,we,wo,see below)
anywi(ゐ),we(ゑ),wo(を)	i(い),e(え),o(お)¹

Usually not reflected in spelling

Modern pronunciation is a result of a long history of phonemic drift that can be traced back to written records of the 13th century, and possibly earlier. However, it was only in 1946 that the Japanese ministry of education modified existingkanausage to conform to the standard dialect(Cộng thông ngữ,kyōtsūgo).All earlier texts used the archaic orthography, now referred to ashistorical kana usage.The adjoining table is a nearly exhaustive list of these spelling changes.

Note that the palatalized moraeゆandよ(yuandyo) combine with the initial consonant (if present) yielding a palatalized syllable. The most basic example of this is modernkyō(Kim nhật ( きょう ),today),which historically developed askefu(けふ)→kyō(きょう),via theefu(えふ)→yō(よう)rule.

A few sound changes are not reflected in the spelling. Firstly,oumerged withoo,both being pronounced as a longō.Secondly, the particlesはandをare still written using historical kana usage, though these are pronounced aswaandorespectively, rather thanhaandwo.

Among Japanese speakers, it is not generally understood that the historical kana spellings were, at one point, reflective of pronunciation.^{[citation needed]}For example, the modernon'yomireadingyō(よう)(for leaf(Diệp,yō)) arose from the historicalefu(えふ).The latter was pronounced something like[ʲepu]by the Japanese at the time it was borrowed (compareMiddle Chinese[jiɛp̚]). However, a modern reader of a classical text would still read this as[joː],the modern pronunciation.

Verb conjugations

Conjugations of some verbs and adjectives differ from the prescribed formation rules because of euphonic changes. Nearly all of these euphonic changes are themselves regular. For verbs the exceptions are all in the ending of the continuative form of group when the following auxiliary starts with at-sound (i.e.-ta(-た),-te(-て),-tari(-たり),etc.).

Continuative ending	Changes to	Example
i(い),chi(ち)orri(り)	っ(double consonant,sokuon,sokuonbin)	kaite(＊ mãi いて)→katte(Mãi って) uchite(＊ đả ちて)→utte(Đả って) shirite(＊ tri りて)→shitte*(Tri って)
bi(び),mi(み)orni(に)	syllabicn(ん)(hatsuon,hatsuonbin), with the followingt(タ)soundvoiced	asobite(＊ du びて)→asonde(Du んで) sumite(＊ trụ みて)→sunde(Trụ んで) shinite(＊ tử にて)→shinde*(Tử んで)
ki(き)	i(い)(i-onbin)	kakite(＊ thư きて)→kaite*(Thư いて)
gi(ぎ)	i(い),with the followingt(タ)sound voiced	oyogite(＊ vịnh ぎて)→oyoide*(Vịnh いで)

* denotes impossible/ungrammatical form.

There is one other irregular change:iku(Hành く,to go),for which there is an exceptional continuative form:iki(Hành き)+te(て)→itte(Hành って),iki(Hành き)+ta(た)→itta(Hành った),etc.

There are dialectical differences, which are also regular and generally occur in similar situations. For example, inKansai dialectthe-i+t-conjugations are instead changed to-ut-(u-onbin), as inomōta(Tư うた)instead ofomotta(Tư った),as perfective ofomou(Tư う,think).In this example, this can combine with the preceding vowel via historical sound changes, as inshimōta(しもうた)(au→ō) instead of standardshimatta(しまった).

Polite forms of adjectives

The continuative form of proper adjectives, when followed by polite forms such asgozaru(ござる/ ngự tọa る,be)orzonjiru(Tồn じる,know, think),undergoes a transformation; this may be followed by historical sound changes, yielding a one-step or two-step sound change. Note that these verbs are almost invariably conjugated to polite-masu(〜ます)form, asgozaimasu(ございます)andzonjimasu(Tồn じます)(note the irregular conjugation ofgozaru,discussed below), and that these verbs are preceded by thecontinuativeform –-ku(〜く)– of adjectives, rather than the terminal form –-i(〜い)– which is used before the more everydaydesu(です,be).

The rule is-ku(〜く)→-u(〜う)(dropping the-k-), possibly also combining with the previous syllable according to the spelling reform chart, which may also undergo palatalization in the case ofyu, yo(ゆ, よ).

Historically there were two classes of properOld Japanese adjectives,-ku(〜く)and-shiku(〜しく)( "-kuadjective "means" not preceded byshi"). This distinction collapsed during the evolution ofLate Middle Japanese adjectives,and both are now considered-i(〜い)adjectives. The sound change for-shiiadjectives follows the same rule as for other-iiadjectives, notably that the preceding vowel also changes and the preceding mora undergoes palatalization, yielding-shiku(〜しく)→-shū(〜しゅう),though historically this was considered a separate but parallel rule.

Continuative ending	Changes to	Example
-aku(〜あく)	-ō(〜おう)	ohayaku gozaimasu(＊おはやくございます)→ ohayō gozaimasu*(おはようございます)
-iku(〜いく)	-yū(〜ゆう)	ōkiku gozaimasu(＊ đại きくございます)→ ōkyū gozaimasu*(Đại きゅうございます)
-uku(〜うく)	-ū(〜うう)	samuku gozaimasu(＊ hàn くございます)→ samū gozaimasu*(Hàn うございます)
*-eku(＊〜えく)	*-yō(＊〜よう)	(not present)
-oku(〜おく)	-ō(〜おう)	omoshiroku gozaimasu(＊ diện bạch くございます)→ omoshirō gozaimasu*(Diện bạch うございます)
-shiku(〜しく)	-shū(〜しゅう)	suzushiku gozaimasu(＊ lương しくございます)→ suzushū gozaimasu*(Lương しゅうございます)

Respectful verbs

Respectful verbs such askudasaru(くださる,'to get'),nasaru(なさる,'to do'),gozaru(ござる,'to be'),irassharu(いらっしゃる,'to be/come/go'),ossharu(おっしゃる,'to say'),etc. behave like group 1 verbs, except in the continuative and imperative forms.

	Change	Example
continuative	[-り]Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 2) (help)changed to [-い]Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 2) (help)	gozarimasu(＊ござります)→gozaimasu(ございます) irassharimase(＊いらっしゃりませ)→irasshaimase(いらっしゃいませ)
imperative	[-れ]Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 2) (help)changed to [-い]Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 2) (help)	kudasare(＊くだされ)→kudasai(ください) nasare(＊なされ)→nasai(なさい)

Colloquial contractions

In speech, common combinations of conjugation and auxiliary verbs are contracted in a fairly regular manner.

Colloquial contractions
Full form	Colloquial	Example
-te shimau(〜てしまう)	-chau/-chimau(〜ちゃう/-ちまう) group 1	Phụ けて makete しまう shimau → Phụ けちゃう makechau / / Phụ けちまう makechimau Phụ けてしまう→ phụ けちゃう/ phụ けちまう maketeshimau{} makechau/ makechimau 'lose'
-de shimau(〜でしまう)	-jau/-jimau(〜じゃう/〜じまう) group 1	Tử んで shinde しまう shimau → Tử んじゃう shinjau / / Tử んじまう shinjimau Tử んでしまう→ tử んじゃう/ tử んじまう shindeshimau{} shinjau/ shinjimau 'die'
-te wa(〜ては)	-cha(〜ちゃ)	Thực べて tabete は wa いけない ikenai → Thực べちゃ tabecha いけない ikenai Thực べてはいけない → thực べちゃいけない tabetewaikenai {} tabechaikenai 'must not eat'
-de wa(〜では)	-ja(〜じゃ)	Ẩm んで nonde は wa いけない ikenai → Ẩm んじゃ nonja いけない ikenai Ẩm んではいけない → ẩm んじゃいけない nondewaikenai {} nonjaikenai 'must not drink'
-te iru(〜ている)	-teru(〜てる) group 2b	Tẩmて nete いる iru → Tẩmてる neteru Tẩmている→ tẩmてる neteiru{} neteru 'is sleeping'
-te oku(〜ておく)	-toku(〜とく) group 1	して shite おく oku → しとく shitoku しておく→ しとく shiteoku{} shitoku 'will do it so'
-te iku(〜て hành く)	-teku(〜てく) group 1	Xuấtて dete Hành け ike → Xuấtてけ deteke XuấtてHành け→ xuấtてけ deteike{} deteke 'get out!'
-te ageru(〜てあげる)	-tageru(〜たげる) group 2a	Mãi って katte あげる ageru → Mãi ったげる kattageru Mãi ってあげる→ mãi ったげる katteageru{} kattageru 'buy something (for someone)'
-ru no(〜るの)	-nno(〜んの)	Hà nani して shite いる iru の no → Hà nani してんの shitenno Hà しているの→ hà してんの nani shite iruno{} nani shitenno 'what are you doing?'
-rinasai(〜りなさい)	-nnasai(〜んなさい)	やりなさい yarinasai → やんなさい yannasai やりなさい→ やんなさい yarinasai{} yannasai 'do it!'
-runa(〜るな)	-nna(〜んな)	やるな yaruna → やんな yanna やるな→ やんな yaruna{} yanna 'don't do it!'
-re wa or -reba(〜れは or 〜れば)	-rya(〜りゃ)	どう dou すれば sureba いい ii の no だろう darou → どう dou すりゃ(あ ) surya いいん iin だろう darou どうすればいいのだろう → どうすりゃ(あ ) いいんだろう dou surebaii no darou {} dou suryaiin darou 'what should I do?'

There are occasional others, such as-aranai→-annaias inwakaranai(Phân からない,don't understand)→wakannai(Phân かんない)andtsumaranai(つまらない,boring)→tsumannai(つまんない)– these are considered quite casual and are more common among the younger generation.^{[citation needed]}

Contractions differ by dialect, but behave similarly to the standard ones given above. For example, in theKansai dialect,-te shimau(〜てしまう)→-temau(〜てまう).

Other independent words

Adverbs

Adverbs in Japanese are not as tightly integrated into the morphology as in many other languages; adverbs are not an independent class of words, but the role of an adverb is played by other words. For example, every adjective in the continuative form can be used as an adverb; thus,yowai(Nhược い,'weak' [adj])→yowaku(Nhược く,'weakly' [adv]).The primary distinguishing characteristic of adverbs is that they cannot occur in a predicate position, just as it is in English. The following classification of adverbs is not intended to be authoritative or exhaustive.

Verbal adverbs: verbs in the continuative form with the particleni.E.g.miru(Kiến る,'to see')→mi ni(Kiến に,'for the purpose of seeing'),used for instance as:mi ni iku(Kiến に hành く,'go to see (something)').
Adjectival adverbs: adjectives in the continuative form, as mentioned above. Example:yowai(Nhược い,'weak' [adj])→yowaku(Nhược く,'weakly' [adv])
Nominal adverbs: grammatical nouns that function as adverbs. Example:ichiban(Nhất phiên,'most highly').
Sound symbolism: words that mimic sounds or concepts. Examples:kirakira(きらきら,'sparklingly'),pokkuri(ぽっくり,'suddenly'),surusuru(するする,'smoothly' (sliding)),etc.

Often, especially for sound symbolism, the particleto(と,'as if')is used. See the article onJapanese sound symbolism.

Conjunctions and interjections

Although called "conjunctions", conjunctions in Japanese are – as their English translations show – actually a kind of adverb:

Examples of conjunctions:soshite(そして,'and then'),mata(また,'and then/again'),etc.

Interjections in Japanese differ little in use and translation from interjections in English:

Examples of interjections:hai(はい,yes/OK/uh),hē(へえ,wow!),iie(いいえ,no/no way),oi(おい,hey!),etc.

Ancillary words

Particles

Particles in Japanese are postpositional, as they immediately follow the modified component. Both the pronunciation and spelling differs for the particleswa(は),e(へ)ando(を),and are romanized according to pronunciation rather than spelling. Only a few prominent particles are listed here.

Topic, theme, and subject:はwaandがga

The complex distinction between the so-called topic,wa(は),and subject,ga(が),particles has been the theme of many doctoral dissertations and scholarly disputes.^{[citation needed]}The clausezō-wa hana-ga nagai(Tượng は tị が trường い)is well known for appearing to contain two subjects. It does not simply mean "the elephant's nose is long", as that can be translated aszō-nohana-wanagai(TượngのTịはTrường い).Rather, a more literal translation would be "(speaking of) the elephant, its nose is long"; furthermore, as Japanese does not distinguish between singular and plural the way English does, it could also mean "as for elephants, their noses are long".

Two major scholarly surveys of Japanese linguistics in English, clarify the distinction.^[91]^[92]To simplify matters, the referents ofwaandgain this section are called thetopicandsubjectrespectively, with the understanding that if either is absent, the grammatical topic and subject may coincide.

As an abstract and rough approximation, the difference betweenwaandgais a matter of focus:wagives focus to the action of the sentence, i.e., to the verb or adjective, whereasgagives focus to the subject of the action. However, when first being introduced to the topic and subject markerswaandga,most are told that the difference between the two is simpler. The topic marker,wa,is used to declare or to make a statement. The subject marker,ga,is used for new information, or asking for new information.

Thematicwa

The use ofwato introduce a new theme of discourse is directly linked to the notion of grammatical theme. Opinions differ on the structure of discourse theme, though it seems fairly uncontroversial to imagine a first-in-first-out hierarchy of themes that is threaded through the discourse. However, the usage of this understanding of themes can be limiting when speaking of their scope and depth, and the introduction of later themes may cause earlier themes to expire.^{[further explanation needed]}In these sorts of sentences, the steadfast translation into English uses constructs like "speaking of X" or "on the topic of X", though such translations tend to be bulky as they fail to use the thematic mechanisms of English. For lack of a comprehensive strategy, many teachers of Japanese emphasize the "speaking of X" pattern without sufficient warning.

ジョン

JON

は

wa

Học sinh

gakusei

です.

desu

(On the topic of) John, (he) is a student.

A common linguistic joke shows the insufficiency of rote translation with the sentenceboku wa unagi da(Phó はウナギだ),which per the pattern would translate as "I am an eel." (or "(As of) me is eel" ). Yet, in a restaurant this sentence can reasonably be used to say "My order is eel" (or "I would like to order an eel" ), with no intended humour. This is because the sentence should be literally read, "As for me, it is an eel," with "it" referring to the speaker's order. The topic of the sentence is clearly not its subject.

Contrastivewa

Related to the role ofwain introducing themes is its use in contrasting the current topic and its aspects from other possible topics and their aspects. The suggestive pattern is "X, but…" or "as for X,…".

Vũ

ame

は

wa

Hàng って

futte

います

imasu

が…

ga…

The rain is falling, but…

Because of its contrastive nature, the topic cannot be undefined.

＊ thùy か

*dareka

は

wa

Bổn

hon

を

o

Đọc んで

yonde

いる.

iru

*Someone is reading the book.

In this use,gais required.

In practice, the distinction between thematic and contrastivewais not that useful. There can be at most one thematicwain a sentence, and it has to be the firstwaif one exists, and the remainingwas are contrastive. The following sentence illustrates the difference;^[93]

Phó

boku

が

ga

Tri って

shitte

いる

iru

Nhân

hito

は

wa

Thùy も

daremo

Lai なかった.

konakatta

(1) Of all the people I know, none came.
(2) (People came but), there weren't any of the people I know.

The first interpretation is the thematicwa,treating "the people I know"(boku ga shitte iru hito)as the theme of the predicate "none came"(dare mo konakatta).That is, if the speaker knows A, B,..., Z, then none of the people who came were A, B,..., Z. The second interpretation is the contrastivewa.If the likely attendees were A, B,..., Z, and of them the speaker knows P, Q and R, then the sentence says that P, Q and R did not come. The sentence says nothing about A', B',..., Z', all of whom the speaker knows, but none of whom were likely to come. In practice, the first interpretation is the likely one.

Exhaustivega

Unlikewa,the subject particleganominates its referent as the sole satisfier of the predicate. This distinction is famously illustrated by the following pair of sentences:

ジョンさん

Jon-san

は

wa

Học sinh

gakusei

です.

desu

John is a student. (There may be other students among the people we're talking about.)

(この

(Kono

グループ

gurūpu

の

no

Trung

naka

で)

de)

ジョン

Jon

が

ga

Học sinh

gakusei

です.

desu

(Of all the people we are talking about) it is John who is the student.

The distinction between each example sentence may be made easier to understand if thought of in terms of the question each statement could answer. The first example sentence could answer the question:

ジョンさん

Jon-san

の

no

Sĩ sự

shigoto

は

wa

Hà

nan

です

desu

か.

ka

What is John's occupation?

Whereas the second example sentence could answer the question:

どちら

Dochira

の

no

Phương

kata

が

ga

Học sinh

gakusei

です

desu

か.

ka

Which one (of them) is the student?

Similarly, in a restaurant, if asked by the waitstaff who has ordered the eels, the customer who ordered it could say:

Phó

Boku

が

ga

ウナギ

unagi

だ.

da

The eels are for me (not these other people).

Objectivega

For certain verbs,gais typically used instead ofoto mark what would be the direct object in English:

ジョンさん

Jon-san

は

wa

フランス ngữ

furansu-go

が

ga

Xuất lai る.

dekiru

John knows French.

There are various common expressions that use verbs in English, often transitive verbs, where the action happens to a specific object: "to be able to do something", "to want something", "to like something", "to dislike something". These same ideas are expressed in Japanese using adjectives and intransitive verbs that describe a subject, instead of actions that happen to an object: "to be possible"(Xuất lai る,dekiru),"to be desired/desirable"(ほしい,hoshii),"to be liked"(Hảo きだ,suki da),"to be disliked"(Hiềm いだ,kirai da).The equivalent of the English subject is instead thetopicin Japanese and thus marked bywa,reflecting thetopic-prominentnature of Japanese grammar.

Since these constructions in English describe an object, whereas the Japanese equivalents describe a subject marked withga(が),some sources call this usage ofga(が)the "objectivega".Strictly speaking, this label may be misleading, as there is no object in the Japanese constructions.

As an example, the Japanese verbwakaru(Phân かる)is often glossed as transitive English verb "to understand". However,wakaruis an intransitive verb that describes a subject, so a more literal gloss would be "to be understandable".

ジョンさん

Jon-san

は

wa

Nhật bổn ngữ

nihongo

が

ga

Phân かる.

wakaru.

* John understands Japanese. → translating into idiomatic English, using the transitive verb "to understand"
* As for John, Japanese is understandable. → translating more closely to the Japanese, with "Japanese" as the subject of an intransitive descriptive verb

Objects, locatives, instrumentals:をo,でde,にni,へe

The direct object of transitive verbs is indicated by the object particleo(を).

ジョンさん

Jon-san

は

wa

Thanh い

aoi

セーター

sētā

を

o

Trứ て

kite

いる.

iru

John is wearing a blue sweater.

This particle can also mean "through" or "along" or "out of" when used with motion verbs:

メアリ

MEARI

が

ga

Tế い

hosoi

Đạo

michi

を

o

Bộ いて

aruite

いた.

ita

Mary was walking along a narrow road.

Quốc cảnh

kokkyō

の

no

Trường い

nagai

トンネル

TONNERU

を

o

Bạt ける

nukeru

と

to

Tuyết quốc

yukiguni

で

de

あった.

atta

(The train) came out of the long border tunnel into the snow country.

The general instrumental particle isde(で),which can be translated as "using" or "by":

Nhục

niku

は

wa

ナイフ

NAIFU

で

de

Thiết る

kiru

こと.

koto

Meat must be cut with a knife.

Điện xa

densha

で

de

Hành きましょう.

ikimashō

Let's go by train.

This particle also has other uses: "at" (temporary location):

Đinh giác

machikado

で

de

Tiên sinh

sensei

に

ni

Hội った.

atta

(I) met my teacher at the street corner.

"In":

Hải

umi

で

de

Vịnh ぐ

oyogu

の

no

は

wa

Nan しい.

muzukashii

Swimming in the sea is hard.

"With" or "in (the span of)":

Kịch

geki

は

wa

Chủ nhân công

shujinkō

の

no

Tử

shi

で

de

Chung る.

owaru

The play ends with the protagonist's death.

Yêm

ore

は

wa

Nhị miểu

nibyō

で

de

Thắng つ.

katsu

I'll win in two seconds.

The general locative particle isni(に).

Đông kinh

Tōkyō

に

ni

Hành きましょう.

ikimashō

Let's go toTokyo.

In this function it is interchangeable withe(へ).However,nihas additional uses: "at (prolonged)":

Tư

watashi

は

wa

Đại thủ đinh

Ōtemachi

Nhất đinh mục

itchōme

99

Phiên địa

banchi

に

ni

Trụ んで

sunde

います.

imasu

I live at Ōtemachi ichōme 99 banchi.

"On":

Băng

kōri

は

wa

Thủy

mizu

に

ni

Phù く.

uku

Ice floats on water.

"In (some year)", "at (some point in time)":

Xuân

haru

の

no

Tịch mộ れ

yūgure

に……

ni…

On a spring eve…

Quantity and extents:とto,もmo,かka,やya,からkara,までmade

To conjoin nouns, とtois used.

かばん

Kaban

に

ni

は,

wa

Giáo khoa thư

kyōkasho

Tam sách

san-satsu

と

to

Mạn họa bổn

manga-bon

Ngũ sách

go-satsu

を

o

Nhập れて

irete

います.

imasu

I have three textbooks and five comic books in the bag.

The additive particlemo(も)can be used to conjoin larger nominals and clauses.

ヨハン

YOHAN

は

wa

ドイツ nhân

DOITSU-jin

だ.

da.

ブリゲッタ

BURIGETTA

も

mo

ドイツ nhân

DOITSU-jin

だ.

da

Johann is a German. Brigitte is a German too.

Bỉ

kare

は

wa

Ánh họa

eiga

スター

SUTĀ

で

de

あり,

ari,

Chính trị gia

seijika

で

de

も

mo

ある.

aru

He is a movie star and also a politician.

For an incomplete list of conjuncts,ya(や)is used.

ボリス

BORISU

や

ya

イバン

IBAN

を

o

Hô べ.

yobe

Call Boris, Ivan, etc.

When only one of the conjuncts is necessary, the disjunctive particleka(か)is used.

Thọ tư

sushi

か

ka

Thứ thân

sashimi

か,

ka,

Hà か

nanika

Chú văn

chūmon

して

shite

ね.

ne

Please ordersushiorsashimior something.

Quantities are listed between 'from'(から,kara)and 'to'(まで,made).

Hoa thị

Kashi

92

Độ

do

から

kara

96

Độ

do

まで

made

の

no

Nhiệt

netsu

は

wa

Tâm phối

shinpai

する

suru

もの

mono

で

de

は

wa

ない.

nai

A temperature between 92 Fahrenheit and 96 is not worrisome.

This pair can also be used to indicate time or space.

Triều 9 thời ( ngọ tiền 9 thời )から11 thời まで thụ nghiệp があるんだ.

asa ku-ji kara jūichi-ji made jugyō ga aru n da

You see, I have classes between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.

Becausekaraindicates starting point or origin, it has a related use as "because", analogously to English "since"(in the sense of both" from "and" because "):

スミスさん

SUMISU-san

は

wa

とても

totemo

Tích cực đích

sekkyokuteki

な

na

Nhân

hito

です

desu

から,

kara,

いつも

itsumo

Toàn bộ

zenbu

Lại まれて

tanomarete

いる

iru

の

no

かもしれません.

kamoshiremasen

Mr. Smith, because you're so assertive, you may always be asked to do everything.

The particlekaraand a related particleyoriare used to indicate lowest extents: prices, business hours, etc.

Tư たち

Watashitachi

の

no

Điếm

mise

は

wa

7 thời

shichi-ji

より

yori

営 nghiệp

eigyō

して

shite

おります.

orimasu

Our shop is open for business from 7 onwards.

Yoriis also used in the sense of "than".

お tiền

omae

は

wa

Tỷ ちゃん

nē-chan

より

yori

うるさい

urusai

ん

n

だ!

da

You are louder/more talkative than my elder sister!

Coordinating:とto,にni,よyo

The particleto(と)is used to set off quotations.

“Sát して…

"koroshite…

Sát して”

koroshite "

と

to

あの

ano

Tử

ko

は

wa

Ngôn っていた.

itteita

The girl was saying, "Kill me… kill me."

Miêu

neko

が

ga

ニャー

NYĀ

ニャー

NYĀ

と

to

Minh く.

naku

The cat says meow, meow.

It is also used to indicate a manner of similarity, "as if", "like" or "the way".

Bỉ

kare

は

wa

“Ái してる

"aishiteru

よ”

yo "

と

to

Ngôn って,

itte,

ぽっくり

pokkuri

と

to

Tử んだ.

shinda

He said "I love you," and dropped dead.

In a related conditional use, it functions like "after/when", or "upon".

Vũ

ame

が

ga

Thượng がる

agaru

と,

to,

Tử ども đạt

kodomo-tachi

は

wa

Thụ nghiệp

jugyō

を

o

Vong れて,

wasurete,

Nhật

hi

の

no

Đương たっている

atatteiru

Thủy たまり

mizutamari

の

no

Dụ hoặc

yūwaku

に

ni

Mộng trung

muchū

に

ni

なる.

naru

Rain stops and then: children, forgetting their lessons, give in to the temptation of sun-faced puddles.

Quốc cảnh

kokkyō

の

no

Trường い

nagai

トンネル

TONNERU

を

o

Bạt ける

nukeru

と

to,

Tuyết quốc

yukiguni

で

de

あった.

atta

(The train) came out of the long border tunnel (and then) into the snow country.

Finally it is used with verbs liketo meet (with)(Hội う,au)orto speak (with)(Thoại す,hanasu).

ジョン

JON

が

ga

メアリー

MEARI

と

to

Sơ めて

hajimete

Hội った

atta

の

no

は,

wa,

1942

Niên

nen

の

no

Xuân

haru

の

no

Tịch mộ れ thời

yūguredoki

の

no

こと

koto

だった.

datta

John met Mary for the first time on a dusky afternoon of spring in 1942.

This last use is also a function of the particleni(に),buttoindicates reciprocation whichnidoes not.

ジョンはメアリーと luyến ái している. (usually say ジョンはメアリーと phó き hợp っている. )

JON wa MEARI[II] to ren'ai shite iru (JON wa MEARI[II] to tsukiatte iru)

John and Mary are in love.

ジョンはメアリーに luyến ái している. (usually say ジョンはメアリーに luyến している. )

JON wa MEARI[II] ni ren'ai shite iru (JON wa MEARI[II] ni koi shite iru)

John loves Mary (but Mary might not love John back).

Finally, the particleyo(よ)is used in a hortative or vocative sense.

Khả ái い

kawaii

Nương

musume

よ,

yo,

Tư

watashi

に

ni

Nhan

kao

を

o

しかめるな.

shikameruna

Oh my beloved daughter, don't frown at me so!

Final:かka,ねne,よyoand related

Thesentence-final particleka(か)turns a declarative sentence into a question.

そちら

sochira

は

wa

アメリカ nhân

amerika-jin

でしょう

deshō

か?

ka?

Are you perchance an American?

Other sentence-final particles add emotional or emphatic impact to the sentence. The particlene(ね)softens a declarative sentence, similar to English "you know?", "eh?", "I tell you!", "isn't it?", "aren't you?", etc.

Bỉ

kare

に

ni

Điện thoại

denwa

しなかった

shinakatta

の

no

ね.

ne

You didn't call him up, did you?

Cận 々

chikajika

ロンドン

rondon

に

ni

Dẫn っ việt される

hikkosareru

そう

sō

です

desu

ね.

ne.

I hear you're moving to London soon. Is that true?

A finalyo(よ)is used in order to soften insistence, warning or command, which would sound very strong without any final particles.

Hư

uso

なんか

nanka

ついて

tsuite

ない

nai

よ!

yo!

I'm not lying!

There are many such emphatic particles; some examples:ze(ぜ)andzo(ぞ)usually used by males;na(な)a less formal form ofne;wa(わ)used likeyoby females (and males in theKansai region), etc. They are essentially limited to speech or transcribed dialogue.

Compound particles

Compound particles are formed with at least one particle together with other words, including other particles. The commonly seen forms are:

particle + verb (term. or cont. or-teform)
particle + noun + particle
noun + particle

Other structures are rarer, though possible. A few examples:

その

sono

Kiện

ken

に

ni

Quan して

kan-shite

Tri っている

shitte-iru

Hạn り

kagiri

の

no

こと

koto

を

o

Giáo えて

oshiete

もらいたい.

moraitai

Kindly tell me everything you know concerning that case. (particle + verb in cont.)

Ngoại quốc ngữ

gaikokugo

を

o

Học tập

gakushū

する

suru

Thượng

ue

で

de

Đại thiết

taisetsu

な

na

こと

koto

は

wa

Mỗi nhật

mainichi

の

no

Nỗ lực

doryoku

が

ga

もの

mono

を

o

Ngôn う

iu

と

to

いう

iu

こと

koto

で

de

ある.

aru

In studying a foreign language, daily effort gives the most rewards. (noun + particle)

Huynh

ani

は

wa

Lạng thân

ryōshin

の

no

Tâm phối

shinpai

を

o

よそ

yoso

に,

ni,

Đại học

daigaku

を

o

やめて

yamete

しまった.

shimatta

Ignoring my parents' worries, my brother dropped out of college. (particle + noun + particle)

Auxiliary verbs

All auxiliary verbs attach to a verbal or adjectivalstem formand conjugate as verbs. In modern Japanese there are two distinct classes of auxiliary verbs:

Pure auxiliaries(Trợ động từ,jodōshi): are usually just calledverb endingsorconjugated forms.These auxiliaries do not function as independent verbs.
Helper auxiliaries(Bổ trợ động từ,hojodōshi): are normal verbs that lose their independent meaning when used as auxiliaries.

In classical Japanese, which was more heavily agglutinating than modern Japanese, the category ofauxiliary verbincluded every verbal ending after the stem form, and most of these endings were themselves inflected. In modern Japanese, however, some of them have stopped being productive. The prime example is the classical auxiliary-tari(たり),whose modern forms-ta(た)and-te(て)are no longer viewed as inflections of the same suffix, and can take no further affixes.

**Some pure auxiliary verbs**
auxiliary	group	attaches to	meaning modification	example
masu(ます)	irregular¹	continuative	makes the sentence polite	kaku(Thư く,'to write')→kakimasu(Thư きます)
rareru(られる)²	2b	irrealis of grp. 2	makes V passive/honorific/potential	miru(Kiến る,'to see')→mirareru(Kiến られる,'to be able to see') taberu(Thực べる,'to eat')→taberareru(Thực べられる,'to be able to eat')
reru(れる)	2b	irrealis of grp. 1	makes V passive/honorific	nomu(Ẩm む,'to drink/swallow')→nomareru(Ẩm まれる,'to be drunk')(Passive form ofdrink,not a synonym forintoxicated.)
saseru(させる)³	2b	irrealis of grp. 2	makes V causative	kangaeru(Khảo える,'to think')→kangaesaseru(Khảo えさせる,'to cause to think')
seru(せる)	2b	irrealis of grp. 1	makes V causative	omoishiru(Tư い tri る,'to realize')→omoishiraseru(Tư い tri らせる,'to cause to realize/to teach a lesson')

masu(ます)has stem forms: irrealis [ませ]Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 1) (help)and [ましょ]Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 1) (help),continuative [まし]Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 1) (help),terminal [ます]Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 1) (help),attributive [ます]Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 1) (help),hypothetical [ますれ]Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 1) (help),imperative [ませ]Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 1) (help).
rareru(られる)in potential usage is sometimes shortened toreru(れる)(group 2); thustabereru(Thực べれる,'to be able to eat')instead oftaberareru(Thực べられる).However, it is considered non-standard.
saseru(させる)is sometimes shortened tosasu(さす)(group 1), but this usage is somewhat literary.

Much of the agglutinative flavour of Japanese stems from helper auxiliaries, however. The following table contains a small selection of many such auxiliary verbs.

**Some helper auxiliary verbs**
auxiliary	group	attaches to	meaning modification	example
aru(ある,'to be' [inanimate])	1	-teform only for trans.	indicates state modification	hiraku(Khai く,'to open')→hiraite-aru(Khai いてある,'opened and is still open')
iru(いる,'to be' [animate])	2a	-teform for trans.	progressive aspect	neru(Tẩm る,'to sleep')→nete-iru(Tẩm ている,'is sleeping')
iru(いる,'to be' [animate])	2a	-teform for intrans.	indicates state modification	shimaru(Bế まる,'to close (intransitive)')→shimatte-iru(Bế まっている,'is closed')
oku(おく,'to put/place')	1	-teform	"do something in advance"	taberu(Thực べる,'to eat')→tabete-oku(Thực べておく,'eat in advance')
oku(おく,'to put/place')	1	-teform	"keep"	akeru(Khai ける,'to open')→akete-oku(Khai けておく,'keep it open')
iku(Hành く,'to go')	1	-teform	"goes on V-ing"	aruku(Bộ く,'to walk')→aruite-iku(Bộ いて hành く,'keep walking')
kuru(くる,'to come')	ka	-teform	inception, "start to V"	furu(Hàng る,'fall')→futte-kuru(Hàng ってくる,'start to fall')
			perfection, "have V-ed" (only past-tense)	ikiru(Sinh きる,'live')→ikite-kita(Sinh きてきた,'have lived')
			conclusion, "come to V"	kotonaru(Dị なる,'differ')→kotonatte-kuru(Dị なってくる,'come to differ')
hajimeru(Thủy める,'to begin')	2b	continuative non-punctual	"V begins", "begin to V"	kaku(Thư く,'to write')→kaki-hajimeru(Thư き thủy める,'start to write')
hajimeru(Thủy める,'to begin')	2b	continuative punctual & subj. must be plural	"V begins", "begin to V"	tsuku(Trứ く,'to arrive')→tsuki-hajimeru(Trứ き thủy める,'have all started to arrive')
dasu(Xuất す,'to emit')	1	continuative	"start to V"	kagayaku(Huy く,'to shine')→kagayaki-dasu(Huy き xuất す,'to start shining')
miru(みる,'to see')	1	-teform	"try to V"	suru(する,'do')→shite-miru(してみる,'try to do')
naosu(なおす,'to correct/heal')	1	continuative	"do V again, correcting mistakes"	kaku(Thư く,'to write')→kaki-naosu(Thư きなおす,'rewrite')
agaru(あがる,'to rise')	1	continuative	"do V thoroughly" / "V happens upwards"	tatsu(Lập つ,'to stand')→tachi-agaru(Lập ち thượng がる,'stand up') dekiru(Xuất lai る,'to come out')→deki-agaru(Xuất lai thượng がる,'be completed')
eru/uru(Đắc る,'to be able')	(see note at bottom)	continuative	indicates potential	aru(ある,'to be')→ariuru(あり đắc る,'is possible')
kakaru/kakeru(かかる・かける,'to hang/catch/obtain')	1	continuative only for intrans., non-volit.	"about to V", "almost V", "to start to V"	oboreru(Nịch れる,'drown')→obore-kakeru(Nịch れかける,'about to drown')
kiru(きる,'to cut')	1	continuative	"do V completely"	taberu(Thực べる,'to eat')→tabe-kiru(Thực べきる,'to eat it all')
kesu(Tiêu す,'to erase')	1	continuative	"cancel by V" "deny with V"	momu(Nhu む,'to rub')→momi-kesu(Nhu み tiêu す,'to rub out, to extinguish')
komu(込む,'to enter deeply/plunge')	1	continuative	"V deep in", "V into"	hanasu(Thoại す,'to speak')→hanashi-komu(Thoại し込む,'to be deep in conversation')
sageru(Hạ げる,'to lower')	2b	continuative	"V down"	hiku(Dẫn く,'to pull')→hiki-sageru(Dẫn き hạ げる,'to pull down')
sugiru(Quá ぎる,'to exceed')	2a	continuative	"overdo V"	iu(Ngôn う,'to say')→ii-sugiru(Ngôn いすぎる,'to say too much, to overstate')
tsukeru(Phó ける,'to attach')	2b	continuative	"become accustomed to V"	iku(Hành く,'to go')→iki-tsukeru(Hành き phó ける,'be used to (going)')
tsuzukeru(続ける,'to continue')	2b	continuative	"keep on V"	furu(Hàng る,'to fall')(e.g. rain) →furi-tsuzukeru(Hàng り続ける,'to keep falling')
tōsu(Thông す,'to show/thread/lead')	1	continuative	"finish V-ing"	yomu(Đọc む,'to read')→yomi-tōsu(Đọc み thông す,'to finish reading')
nukeru(Bạt ける,'to shed/spill/desert')	2b	continuative only for intrans.	"V through"	hashiru(Tẩu る,'to run')→hashiri-nukeru(Tẩu り bạt ける,'to run through')
nokosu(Tàn す,'to leave behind')	1	continuative	"by doing V, leave something behind"	omou(Tư う,'to think')→omoi-nokosu(Tư い tàn す,'to regret', lit: to have something left to think about)
nokoru(Tàn る,'to be left behind')	1	continuative only for intrans.	"be left behind, doing V"	ikiru(Sinh きる,'live')→iki-nokoru(Sinh き tàn る,'to survive', lit: to be left alive)
wakeru(Phân ける,'to divide/split/classify')	2b	continuative	"the proper way to V"	tsukau(Sử う,'use')→tsukai-wakeru(Sử い phân ける,'to indicate the proper way to use')
wasureru(Vong れる,'to forget')	2b	continuative	"to forget to V"	kiku(Văn く,'to ask')→kiki-wasureru(Văn き vong れる,'to forget to ask')
au(Hợp う)'to come together'	1	continuative	"to do V to each other", "to do V together"	daku(Bão く,'to hug')→daki-au(Bão き hợp う,'to hug each other')

Note:eru/uru(Đắc る)is the only modern verb ofshimo nidantype (and it is different from theshimo nidantype of classical Japanese), with conjugations: irrealisえ,continuativeえ,terminalえるorうる,attributiveうる,hypotheticalうれ,imperativeえろorえよ.

Notes

^In contrast,Romance languagessuch asSpanishare strongly right-branching, andGermanic languagessuch asEnglishare weakly right-branching.
^Note that Japanese has no articles, and the different word order obviates any need for the relative pronounwho.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^lWithout explicitfuriganain this particular source, this pronunciation was inferred from pronunciations in other sources that treatedhinshias part of a sequence ofnumeral+counter+noun, in which casehin(Phẩm)was a counter for the nounshi(Từ).Examples includedjippinshi(Thập(じつ)Phẩm(ぴん)Từ(し))andhappinshi(Bát(はつ)Phẩm(ぴん)Từ(し)),happinshi(Bát(ハツ)Phẩm(ピン)Từ(シ)),happinshi(Bát(はつ)Phẩm(ぴん)Từ(し)),ハツピンシ ( bát phẩm từ ),ハッピンシ ( bát phẩm từ ).Current dictionaries treathinshias a full-fledged noun, hencehachihinshi(Bát(はち)Phẩm(ひん)Từ(し)).
^Equivalent totaigen(Thể ngôn)in other analyses.
^Equivalent toyōgen(Dụng ngôn)in other analyses.
^Translated by the author asintensive.
^The same term is confusingly used for both "attributives" here as a distinct part of speech, and for "adjectives" which are subsumed by the part of speech ofdōshi(Động từ).The distinction is marked with "western"(Tây dương,seiyō)"attributives" and "Japanese"(Nhật bổn,Nihon)"adjectives." The author suggested "stative verbs"(Trạng thái động từ,jōtai dōshi)as a replacement for "Japanese adjectives." Even though these are "attributives," the author's translation remainsadjective.
^Translated by the author asadjective.As this is a revised edition of the 1924 grammar,fukutaishiwas intended as a replacement for the confusing unorthodox use ofkeiyōshi(Hình dung từ)as meaning "attributives." As forkeiyōshi(Hình dung từ)as meaning "adjectives," "adjectival verbs"(Hình dung động từ,keiyō dōshi)is used instead.
^Some grammarians made a distinction betweenshi(Từ)andji(Từ),which are equivalent to the modern termsjiritsugo(Tự lập ngữ,"free forms")andfuzokugo(Phó chúc ngữ,"bound forms" )respectively.Ji(Từ)orfuzokugo(Phó chúc ngữ)consist of auxiliaries and particles, whileshi(Từ)orjiritsugo(Tự lập ngữ)consist of everything else. The namesjodōshi(Trợ độngTừ)andjoshi(TrợTừ)were customary despite the labelji(Từ).
^Mainly cited fromŌtsuki Fumihiko.
^Mainly translated from Dutch, Latin and English terminologies.
^Lexical nouns.
^Interrogative "pronouns" such asdare(Thùy),doko(どこ),etc.
^Grammaticalized nominalizingnouns, nowadays spelt in hiragana, such askoto(こと),mono(もの),etc.
^Currently, this missing slot would be filled withkeishiki meishi(Hình thức danh từ).
^This term was coined by analogy withfukushi(Phó từ,"adverb" ),and would be equivalent toadnounin English. Formerlykeiyōshi(Hình dung từ).Attributive words such asko-no(この),aru(Hoặc る),etc.
^Currently, this missing slot would be filled withrentaishi(Liên thể từ).
^Formerlyjōtai dōshi(Trạng thái động từ),thenkeiyō dōshi(Hình dung động từ).
^Currently, this missing slot would be filled withkeiyōshi(Hình dung từ),which Matsushita objected to.Ōtsuki Fumihiko,despite cautioning against the equation of this class of Japanese words to the class of "adjectives" in European grammars, still usedkeiyōshifor both, while tentatively proposingkeiyō dōshi(Hình dung động từ)as an alternative.
^Formerlydōsa dōshi(Động tác động từ).
^Literal translation of the Latininteriectiōlit. 'between-throwing'.Formerlykandōshi(Cảm động từ).

References

^Uehara 1998,p. 69.
^Dixon 1977,p. 48.
^Adam (2011-07-18)."Homage to る(ru), The Magical Verbifier".
^"“ディスる” “タクる” は70%が văn いたことがないと hồi đáp quốc ngữ thế luận điều tra で phán minh "[70% of Japanese people have never heard of the wordstaku-ruanddisu-ru.].Retrieved2016-01-20.
^Languages with different open and closed word classes
^The Typology of Adjectival Predication,Harrie Wetzer,p. 311
^The Art of Grammar: A Practical Guide,Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald,p. 96
^"Closed and open classes in Natlangs (Especially Japanese)".Archived fromthe originalon February 22, 2015.RetrievedFebruary 22,2015.
^Trường, liên hằng (December 1908).Nhật bổn ngữ 𭓘 sử(in Japanese). Hakubunkan. p. 68.
^Tsurumine, Shigenobu (1831).Ngữ học tân thư(in Japanese). Văn nhạc đường. p. 1.
^Tiểu 𭓘 giáo tắc(in Japanese). Izumoji Manjirō. July 1872.
^Tanaka, Yoshikado (January 1874).Tiểu học nhật bổn văn điển(in Japanese). Nhạn kim ốc thanh cát. p. 2.
^Tanaka, Yoshikado (2 November 1877).Nhật bổn tiểu văn điển(in Japanese). p. 7.
^Nakane, Kiyoshi (March 1876).Nhật bổn văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 1. Moriya Jihee. p. 27.
^Yasuda, Keisai (January 1877). Tanaka, Yoshikado (ed.).Nhật bổn tiểu học văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 1. p. 7.
^Hori, Hidenari (September 1877).Nhật bổn ngữ học giai thê(in Japanese). Vol. 1. Nagai Naokoto. p. 7.
^Nakajima, Misao, ed. (January 1879).Tiểu học văn pháp thư(in Japanese). Banshōdō. p. 15.
^Ōya, Tōru (17 January 1880).Ngữ cách chỉ nam(in Japanese). Vol. 1. Hara Ryōzaburō. p. 1.
^Ōya, Tōru (28 March 1899).Quốc ngữ tố nguyên(in Japanese).
^Chamberlain, Basil Hall (8 April 1887).Nhật bổn tiểu văn điển(in Japanese).Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture.p. 3.
^Ōtsuki, Fumihiko (5 May 1889).Nhật bổn từ thư ngôn hải(in Japanese). p. 6.
^Ōtsuki, Fumihiko (9 January 1897).Quảng nhật bổn văn điển(in Japanese). p. 49.
^Ochiai, Naobumi; Konakamura, Yoshitaka (5 December 1890).Trung đẳng giáo dục nhật bổn văn điển(in Japanese). Nihondō.
^Ochiai, Naobumi (16 May 1893).Phổ thông nhật bổn văn điển(in Japanese). Matsumura Kyūbee.
^Ochiai, Naobumi (26 March 1895).Nhật bổn đại văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 2. Hakubunkan. pp. 1–2.
^Ochiai, Naobumi (28 February 1897).Nhật bổn đại văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 4. Hakubunkan. p. 1.
^Ochiai, Naobumi (5 July 1915).Phổ thông văn điển(in Japanese). Shūgakudō.
^Tejima, Haruji (15 May 1891) [26 December 1890]. Miyake, Yonekichi (ed.).Nhật bổn văn pháp giáo khoa thư(in Japanese) (2nd ed.). Kinkōdō. p. 2.
^Tejima, Haruji (26 September 1899). Miyake, Yonekichi (ed.).Tân soạn nhật bổn văn điển(in Japanese). Kinkōdō. p. 36.
^Takada, Utarō (21 March 1899). Inoue, Yorikuni; Henmi, Chūzaburō (eds.).Trung đẳng quốc văn điển(in Japanese). Yoshikawa Hanshichi. pp. 26–27.
^Ōwada, Takeki (16 April 1891).Hòa văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 2. Chūōdō. p. 2.
^Ōwada, Takeki; Koyama, Sakunosuke (3 November 1901).Nhật bổn văn điển xướng ca(in Japanese). Keihatsusha. p. 2.
^Takatsu, Kuwasaburō (22 June 1891).Nhật bổn trung văn điển(in Japanese). Kinkōdō.
^Okakura, Yoshisaburō (24 June 1891).Nhật bổn tân văn điển(in Japanese). Fuzanbō. p. 28.
^Hayama, Hisanori (October 1891).Phổ thông giáo dục hòa văn sơ học(in Japanese). Vol. 1. Matsumura Kyūbee. p. 26.
^Hirata, Moritane (1893). Tiểu dã thôn, dận tín (ed.).Quốc ngữ học giáo thụ thư(in Japanese). Vol. 1. Tiểu bản thư điếm. p. 9.
^Shinbo, Iwaji (25 July 1897) [29 March 1896].Trung học quốc văn điển(in Japanese) (revised ed.). Kinkōdō. pp. 10–11.
^Shiratori, Kikuji (23 December 1893).Nhã văn tục văn tác văn ngữ cách(in Japanese). Eisai Shinshi Sha.
^Shiratori, Kikuji; Ochiai, Naobumi (15 April 1898).Trung đẳng giáo dục tân soạn nhật bổn văn điển(in Japanese). Eisai Shinshi Sha. pp. 1–2.
^Matsushita, Daizaburō; Miyamoto, Shizuka (19 April 1898).Nhật bổn văn điển(in Japanese). Trung đẳng học khoa giáo thụ pháp nghiên cứu hội. p. 5.
^Matsushita, Daizaburō (15 August 1901) [27 April 1901].Nhật bổn tục ngữ văn điển(in Japanese) (revised ed.). Seishidō. p. 7.
^Matsushita, Daizaburō (31 December 1924).Tiêu chuẩn nhật bổn văn pháp(in Japanese). Kigensha. p. 179.
^Matsushita, Daizaburō (25 April 1928).Cải soạn tiêu chuẩn nhật bổn văn pháp(in Japanese). Kigensha. pp. 189–190.
^Morishita, Matsue (15 March 1900).Trung học quốc văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 1. Phổ cập xá. p. 38.
^Matsudaira, Shizuka; Matsushita, Daizaburō (15 December 1900).Tân biên nhật bổn văn điển(in Japanese). Seishidō. p. 22.
^Matsudaira, Shizuka (1 January 1908).Văn pháp cập tác văn(in Japanese). Ikubundō. pp. 2–3.
^Mitsuchi, Chūzō (26 February 1901).Trung đẳng quốc văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 1. Fuzanbō. pp. 46–47.
^Kanai, Yasuzō (22 July 1901).Nhật bổn tục ngữ văn điển(in Japanese). Hōeikan. pp. 45–46.
^Ishikawa, Kuraji (10 August 1901).はなしことばのきそく(in Japanese). Kinkōdō. p. 139.
^Suzuki, Nobuyuki (10 September 1902).Nhật bổn văn pháp(in Japanese). Kōfūkan. pp. 20–21.
^Suzuki, Nobuyuki (1 January 1904).Nhật bổn khẩu ngữ điển(in Japanese). Đại nhật bổn phổ thông học giảng tập hội xuất bản bộ. p. 40.
^Suzuki, Nobuyuki (2 April 1906).Nhật bổn khẩu ngữ văn điển(in Japanese). Hakubunkan. p. 47.
^Haga, Yaichi (24 February 1905).Trung đẳng giáo khoa minh trị văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 1. Fuzanbō. p. 49.
^Yoshioka, Kyōsuke (21 January 1906).Nhật bổn khẩu ngữ pháp(in Japanese). Dainippon Tosho. pp. 1–6.
^Yoshioka, Kyōsuke (26 April 1933).Nhật bổn khẩu ngữ pháp(in Japanese) (Shōwa ed.). Tōyō Tosho. pp. 1–3.
^Mitsuya, Shigematsu (15 December 1908).Cao đẳng nhật bổn văn pháp(in Japanese). Meiji Shoin. pp. 32–34.
^Hoshina, Kōichi (1909).Nhật bổn khẩu ngữ pháp(in Japanese). Waseda University.
^Hoshina, Kōichi (6 October 1917).Đại chính nhật bổn văn pháp(in Japanese). Ikuei Shoin. p. 114.
^Tsuge, Zenzō (1 February 1916).Nhật bổn tân văn điển(in Japanese). Tiểu bản thư điếm. p. 33.
^Yamada, Yoshio; Utsumi, Kōzō (7 February 1918) [30 October 1917].Trung đẳng quốc văn pháp giáo khoa thư(in Japanese). Vol. 1 (revised ed.). Hōbunkan. p. 9.
^Yamada, Yoshio (23 September 1922) [25 February 1922].Nhật bổn văn pháp giảng nghĩa(in Japanese) (revised ed.). Hōbunkan. p. 11.
^Yamada, Yoshio (28 November 1922).Nhật bổn khẩu ngữ pháp giảng nghĩa(in Japanese). Hōbunkan. p. 10.
^Yamada, Yoshio (1938).Nhật bổn văn pháp giáo khoa thư trung học giáo sơ cấp dụng(in Japanese). Hōbunkan.
^Fujimura, Tsukuru; Shimazu, Hisamoto (20 August 1926) [15 September 1921].Đại chính nhật bổn văn pháp(in Japanese) (3rd ed.). Shibundō. p. 13.
^Yoshizawa, Yoshinori (25 June 1923).Trung đẳng tân quốc văn điển biệt ký(in Japanese). Shūbunkan. p. 21.
^Hashimoto, Shinkichi (13 March 1935).Tân văn điển biệt ký thượng cấp dụng(in Japanese). Fuzanbō. p. 7.
^Tōjō, Misao (1937).Trung học quốc văn điển sơ niên cấp dụng(in Japanese). Hoshino Shoten.
^Trung học tân quốc văn điển sơ niên cấp dụng(in Japanese). Hiroshima Higher Normal School. 1937.
^Iwai, Yoshio (1937).Trung học khẩu ngữ pháp đệ nhất học niên dụng(in Japanese). Meguro Shoten.
^Kindaichi, Kyōsuke (1939).Tân chế trung học quốc ngữ pháp sơ cấp dụng(in Japanese). Teikoku Shoin.
^Iwabuchi, Etsutarō (1943).Trung đẳng văn pháp(in Japanese). Vol. 1.
^Hamada, Kenjirō (1887).Phó giả tự pháp quy(in Japanese). Tetsugaku Shoin. p. 18.
^Ōwada, Takeki (April 1891).Hòa văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 2. Chūōdō. p. 37.
^Ōtsuki, Fumihiko (1897).Quảng nhật bổn văn điển biệt ký(in Japanese). p. 80.
^Thu tỉnh, trọng thứ (February 1893).Tầm thường cao đẳng giáo thụ tế mục cập giáo thụ pháp(in Japanese). Thịnh văn quán. p. 97.
^Ochiai, Naobumi (26 March 1895).Nhật bổn đại văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 2. Hakubunkan. pp. 27–28.
^Yamaguchi, Akiho; Akimoto, Morihide, eds. (1 March 2001).Nhật bổn ngữ văn pháp đại từ điển(in Japanese). Meiji Shoin.
^Haga, Yaichi (24 February 1905).Trung đẳng giáo khoa minh trị văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 1. Fuzanbō. p. 35.
^Morita, Shingo (26 July 2021).“Học giáo văn pháp” thành lập quá trình における chỉ đạo nội dung の sinh thành と thâu liễm(PDF)(Doctor of Philosophy in Education thesis) (in Japanese). University of Tsukuba. 10.15068/0002000707.
^Matsushita, Daizaburō (31 December 1924).Tiêu chuẩn nhật bổn văn pháp.Kigensha. p. 290.
^Matsushita, Daizaburō (25 April 1928).Cải soạn tiêu chuẩn nhật bổn văn pháp.Kigensha. p. 323.
^^a ^bMatsushita, Daizaburō (27 February 1930).Tiêu chuẩn nhật bổn khẩu ngữ pháp.Chūbunkan Shoten. p. 59.
^Uehara 1998,chapter 2, especially §2.2.2.2.
^Bình sơn, nhân mỹ."Rising Declaratives in Japanese"(PDF).researchmap.jp.Archived fromthe originalon 2023-11-08.Retrieved2023-11-08.
^Takahashi, Tarō; et al. (2010).Nihongo no BunpōNhật bổn ngữ の văn pháp[A Japanese Grammar] (in Japanese) (4th ed.). Japan: Hituzi Syobo Publishing. p. 27.ISBN 978-4-89476-244-2.
^"What are the personal pronouns of Japanese?"insci.lang.japan Frequently Asked Questions
^Bart Mathias.Discussion of pronoun reference constraintson sci.lang.japan.
^"What's the difference between hajimeru and hajimaru?"insci.lang.japan Frequently Asked Questions
^Kim Allen (2000)"Japanese verbs, part 2"Archived2007-08-10 at theWayback MachineinJapanese for the Western Brain
^"Đối ứng する tha động từ のある tự động từ の ý vị đích ・ thống hợp đích đặc trưng"(PDF).Kyoto University.Archived(PDF)from the original on 2022-10-09.RetrievedMay 18,2013.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^Shibatani 1990b.
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^Kuno 1973,p.^{[page needed]}.

Bibliography

Dixon, R. M. W. (1 January 1977). "Where Have all the Adjectives Gone?".Studies in Language.1(1): 19–80.doi:10.1075/sl.1.1.04dix.
Kuno, Susumu (1973).The structure of the Japanese language.Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.ISBN 0-262-11049-0.
Shibatani, Masayoshi (1990b).The languages of Japan.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 0-521-36070-6(hbk);ISBN 0-521-36918-5(pbk).
Uehara, Satoshi (1998).Syntactic categories in Japanese: a cognitive and typological introduction.Studies in Japanese linguistics. Vol. 9. Kurosio.ISBN 487424162X.

External links

FAQfrom the Usenet newsgroupsci.lang.japan
An introduction to Japanese - Syntax, Grammar & Language,online version by Michiel Kamermans
Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese– Japanese online grammar guide
Shoko Hamano,Visualizing Japanese Grammar– animated Japanese grammar lessons from George Washington University

[1] In contrast,Romance languagessuch asSpanishare strongly right-branching, andGermanic languagessuch asEnglishare weakly right-branching.

[2] Note that Japanese has no articles, and the different word order obviates any need for the relative pronounwho.

[hin-counter-16] ^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^lWithout explicitfuriganain this particular source, this pronunciation was inferred from pronunciations in other sources that treatedhinshias part of a sequence ofnumeral+counter+noun, in which casehin(Phẩm)was a counter for the nounshi(Từ).Examples includedjippinshi(Thập(じつ)Phẩm(ぴん)Từ(し))andhappinshi(Bát(はつ)Phẩm(ぴん)Từ(し)),happinshi(Bát(ハツ)Phẩm(ピン)Từ(シ)),happinshi(Bát(はつ)Phẩm(ぴん)Từ(し)),ハツピンシ ( bát phẩm từ ),ハッピンシ ( bát phẩm từ ).Current dictionaries treathinshias a full-fledged noun, hencehachihinshi(Bát(はち)Phẩm(ひん)Từ(し)).

[20] Equivalent totaigen(Thể ngôn)in other analyses.

[21] Equivalent toyōgen(Dụng ngôn)in other analyses.

[46] Translated by the author asintensive.

[49] The same term is confusingly used for both "attributives" here as a distinct part of speech, and for "adjectives" which are subsumed by the part of speech ofdōshi(Động từ).The distinction is marked with "western"(Tây dương,seiyō)"attributives" and "Japanese"(Nhật bổn,Nihon)"adjectives." The author suggested "stative verbs"(Trạng thái động từ,jōtai dōshi)as a replacement for "Japanese adjectives." Even though these are "attributives," the author's translation remainsadjective.

[51] Translated by the author asadjective.As this is a revised edition of the 1924 grammar,fukutaishiwas intended as a replacement for the confusing unorthodox use ofkeiyōshi(Hình dung từ)as meaning "attributives." As forkeiyōshi(Hình dung từ)as meaning "adjectives," "adjectival verbs"(Hình dung động từ,keiyō dōshi)is used instead.

[65] Some grammarians made a distinction betweenshi(Từ)andji(Từ),which are equivalent to the modern termsjiritsugo(Tự lập ngữ,"free forms")andfuzokugo(Phó chúc ngữ,"bound forms" )respectively.Ji(Từ)orfuzokugo(Phó chúc ngữ)consist of auxiliaries and particles, whileshi(Từ)orjiritsugo(Tự lập ngữ)consist of everything else. The namesjodōshi(Trợ độngTừ)andjoshi(TrợTừ)were customary despite the labelji(Từ).

[92] Mainly cited fromŌtsuki Fumihiko.

[93] Mainly translated from Dutch, Latin and English terminologies.

[94] Lexical nouns.

[95] Interrogative "pronouns" such asdare(Thùy),doko(どこ),etc.

[96] Grammaticalized nominalizingnouns, nowadays spelt in hiragana, such askoto(こと),mono(もの),etc.

[97] Currently, this missing slot would be filled withkeishiki meishi(Hình thức danh từ).

[98] This term was coined by analogy withfukushi(Phó từ,"adverb" ),and would be equivalent toadnounin English. Formerlykeiyōshi(Hình dung từ).Attributive words such asko-no(この),aru(Hoặc る),etc.

[99] Currently, this missing slot would be filled withrentaishi(Liên thể từ).

[100] Formerlyjōtai dōshi(Trạng thái động từ),thenkeiyō dōshi(Hình dung động từ).

[101] Currently, this missing slot would be filled withkeiyōshi(Hình dung từ),which Matsushita objected to.Ōtsuki Fumihiko,despite cautioning against the equation of this class of Japanese words to the class of "adjectives" in European grammars, still usedkeiyōshifor both, while tentatively proposingkeiyō dōshi(Hình dung động từ)as an alternative.

[102] Formerlydōsa dōshi(Động tác động từ).

[103] Literal translation of the Latininteriectiōlit. 'between-throwing'.Formerlykandōshi(Cảm động từ).

[FOOTNOTEUehara199869-3] Uehara 1998,p. 69.

[FOOTNOTEDixon197748-4] Dixon 1977,p. 48.

[5] Adam (2011-07-18)."Homage to る(ru), The Magical Verbifier".

[6] "“ディスる” “タクる” は70%が văn いたことがないと hồi đáp quốc ngữ thế luận điều tra で phán minh "[70% of Japanese people have never heard of the wordstaku-ruanddisu-ru.].Retrieved2016-01-20.

[7] Languages with different open and closed word classes

[8] The Typology of Adjectival Predication,Harrie Wetzer,p. 311

[guide96-9] The Art of Grammar: A Practical Guide,Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald,p. 96

[10] "Closed and open classes in Natlangs (Especially Japanese)".Archived fromthe originalon February 22, 2015.RetrievedFebruary 22,2015.

[11] Trường, liên hằng (December 1908).Nhật bổn ngữ 𭓘 sử(in Japanese). Hakubunkan. p. 68.

[12] Tsurumine, Shigenobu (1831).Ngữ học tân thư(in Japanese). Văn nhạc đường. p. 1.

[13] Tiểu 𭓘 giáo tắc(in Japanese). Izumoji Manjirō. July 1872.

[14] Tanaka, Yoshikado (January 1874).Tiểu học nhật bổn văn điển(in Japanese). Nhạn kim ốc thanh cát. p. 2.

[15] Tanaka, Yoshikado (2 November 1877).Nhật bổn tiểu văn điển(in Japanese). p. 7.

[17] Nakane, Kiyoshi (March 1876).Nhật bổn văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 1. Moriya Jihee. p. 27.

[18] Yasuda, Keisai (January 1877). Tanaka, Yoshikado (ed.).Nhật bổn tiểu học văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 1. p. 7.

[19] Hori, Hidenari (September 1877).Nhật bổn ngữ học giai thê(in Japanese). Vol. 1. Nagai Naokoto. p. 7.

[22] Nakajima, Misao, ed. (January 1879).Tiểu học văn pháp thư(in Japanese). Banshōdō. p. 15.

[23] Ōya, Tōru (17 January 1880).Ngữ cách chỉ nam(in Japanese). Vol. 1. Hara Ryōzaburō. p. 1.

[24] Ōya, Tōru (28 March 1899).Quốc ngữ tố nguyên(in Japanese).

[25] Chamberlain, Basil Hall (8 April 1887).Nhật bổn tiểu văn điển(in Japanese).Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture.p. 3.

[26] Ōtsuki, Fumihiko (5 May 1889).Nhật bổn từ thư ngôn hải(in Japanese). p. 6.

[27] Ōtsuki, Fumihiko (9 January 1897).Quảng nhật bổn văn điển(in Japanese). p. 49.

[28] Ochiai, Naobumi; Konakamura, Yoshitaka (5 December 1890).Trung đẳng giáo dục nhật bổn văn điển(in Japanese). Nihondō.

[29] Ochiai, Naobumi (16 May 1893).Phổ thông nhật bổn văn điển(in Japanese). Matsumura Kyūbee.

[30] Ochiai, Naobumi (26 March 1895).Nhật bổn đại văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 2. Hakubunkan. pp. 1–2.

[31] Ochiai, Naobumi (28 February 1897).Nhật bổn đại văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 4. Hakubunkan. p. 1.

[32] Ochiai, Naobumi (5 July 1915).Phổ thông văn điển(in Japanese). Shūgakudō.

[33] Tejima, Haruji (15 May 1891) [26 December 1890]. Miyake, Yonekichi (ed.).Nhật bổn văn pháp giáo khoa thư(in Japanese) (2nd ed.). Kinkōdō. p. 2.

[34] Tejima, Haruji (26 September 1899). Miyake, Yonekichi (ed.).Tân soạn nhật bổn văn điển(in Japanese). Kinkōdō. p. 36.

[35] Takada, Utarō (21 March 1899). Inoue, Yorikuni; Henmi, Chūzaburō (eds.).Trung đẳng quốc văn điển(in Japanese). Yoshikawa Hanshichi. pp. 26–27.

[36] Ōwada, Takeki (16 April 1891).Hòa văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 2. Chūōdō. p. 2.

[37] Ōwada, Takeki; Koyama, Sakunosuke (3 November 1901).Nhật bổn văn điển xướng ca(in Japanese). Keihatsusha. p. 2.

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[52] Morishita, Matsue (15 March 1900).Trung học quốc văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 1. Phổ cập xá. p. 38.

[53] Matsudaira, Shizuka; Matsushita, Daizaburō (15 December 1900).Tân biên nhật bổn văn điển(in Japanese). Seishidō. p. 22.

[54] Matsudaira, Shizuka (1 January 1908).Văn pháp cập tác văn(in Japanese). Ikubundō. pp. 2–3.

[55] Mitsuchi, Chūzō (26 February 1901).Trung đẳng quốc văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 1. Fuzanbō. pp. 46–47.

[56] Kanai, Yasuzō (22 July 1901).Nhật bổn tục ngữ văn điển(in Japanese). Hōeikan. pp. 45–46.

[57] Ishikawa, Kuraji (10 August 1901).はなしことばのきそく(in Japanese). Kinkōdō. p. 139.

[58] Suzuki, Nobuyuki (10 September 1902).Nhật bổn văn pháp(in Japanese). Kōfūkan. pp. 20–21.

[59] Suzuki, Nobuyuki (1 January 1904).Nhật bổn khẩu ngữ điển(in Japanese). Đại nhật bổn phổ thông học giảng tập hội xuất bản bộ. p. 40.

[60] Suzuki, Nobuyuki (2 April 1906).Nhật bổn khẩu ngữ văn điển(in Japanese). Hakubunkan. p. 47.

[61] Haga, Yaichi (24 February 1905).Trung đẳng giáo khoa minh trị văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 1. Fuzanbō. p. 49.

[62] Yoshioka, Kyōsuke (21 January 1906).Nhật bổn khẩu ngữ pháp(in Japanese). Dainippon Tosho. pp. 1–6.

[63] Yoshioka, Kyōsuke (26 April 1933).Nhật bổn khẩu ngữ pháp(in Japanese) (Shōwa ed.). Tōyō Tosho. pp. 1–3.

[64] Mitsuya, Shigematsu (15 December 1908).Cao đẳng nhật bổn văn pháp(in Japanese). Meiji Shoin. pp. 32–34.

[66] Hoshina, Kōichi (1909).Nhật bổn khẩu ngữ pháp(in Japanese). Waseda University.

[67] Hoshina, Kōichi (6 October 1917).Đại chính nhật bổn văn pháp(in Japanese). Ikuei Shoin. p. 114.

[68] Tsuge, Zenzō (1 February 1916).Nhật bổn tân văn điển(in Japanese). Tiểu bản thư điếm. p. 33.

[69] Yamada, Yoshio; Utsumi, Kōzō (7 February 1918) [30 October 1917].Trung đẳng quốc văn pháp giáo khoa thư(in Japanese). Vol. 1 (revised ed.). Hōbunkan. p. 9.

[70] Yamada, Yoshio (23 September 1922) [25 February 1922].Nhật bổn văn pháp giảng nghĩa(in Japanese) (revised ed.). Hōbunkan. p. 11.

[71] Yamada, Yoshio (28 November 1922).Nhật bổn khẩu ngữ pháp giảng nghĩa(in Japanese). Hōbunkan. p. 10.

[72] Yamada, Yoshio (1938).Nhật bổn văn pháp giáo khoa thư trung học giáo sơ cấp dụng(in Japanese). Hōbunkan.

[73] Fujimura, Tsukuru; Shimazu, Hisamoto (20 August 1926) [15 September 1921].Đại chính nhật bổn văn pháp(in Japanese) (3rd ed.). Shibundō. p. 13.

[74] Yoshizawa, Yoshinori (25 June 1923).Trung đẳng tân quốc văn điển biệt ký(in Japanese). Shūbunkan. p. 21.

[75] Hashimoto, Shinkichi (13 March 1935).Tân văn điển biệt ký thượng cấp dụng(in Japanese). Fuzanbō. p. 7.

[76] Tōjō, Misao (1937).Trung học quốc văn điển sơ niên cấp dụng(in Japanese). Hoshino Shoten.

[77] Trung học tân quốc văn điển sơ niên cấp dụng(in Japanese). Hiroshima Higher Normal School. 1937.

[78] Iwai, Yoshio (1937).Trung học khẩu ngữ pháp đệ nhất học niên dụng(in Japanese). Meguro Shoten.

[79] Kindaichi, Kyōsuke (1939).Tân chế trung học quốc ngữ pháp sơ cấp dụng(in Japanese). Teikoku Shoin.

[80] Iwabuchi, Etsutarō (1943).Trung đẳng văn pháp(in Japanese). Vol. 1.

[81] Hamada, Kenjirō (1887).Phó giả tự pháp quy(in Japanese). Tetsugaku Shoin. p. 18.

[82] Ōwada, Takeki (April 1891).Hòa văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 2. Chūōdō. p. 37.

[83] Ōtsuki, Fumihiko (1897).Quảng nhật bổn văn điển biệt ký(in Japanese). p. 80.

[84] Thu tỉnh, trọng thứ (February 1893).Tầm thường cao đẳng giáo thụ tế mục cập giáo thụ pháp(in Japanese). Thịnh văn quán. p. 97.

[85] Ochiai, Naobumi (26 March 1895).Nhật bổn đại văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 2. Hakubunkan. pp. 27–28.

[86] Yamaguchi, Akiho; Akimoto, Morihide, eds. (1 March 2001).Nhật bổn ngữ văn pháp đại từ điển(in Japanese). Meiji Shoin.

[87] Haga, Yaichi (24 February 1905).Trung đẳng giáo khoa minh trị văn điển(in Japanese). Vol. 1. Fuzanbō. p. 35.

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[FOOTNOTEKuno1973[[Category:Wikipedia_articles_needing_page_number_citations_from_July_2024]]<sup_class="noprint_Inline-Template_"_style="white-space:nowrap;">&#91;<i>[[Wikipedia:Citing_sources|<span_title="This_citation_requires_a_reference_to_the_specific_page_or_range_of_pages_in_which_the_material_appears.&#32;(July_2024)">page&nbsp;needed</span>]]</i>&#93;</sup>-114] Kuno 1973,p.^{[page needed]}.

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Japanese grammar

Distinctive aspects of modern Japanese sentence structure

Word order: head-final and left-branching

Word class system

Different classifications

Japanese as a topic-prominent language

Liberal omission of the subject of a sentence

Sentences, phrases and words

Phrasal movement

Word classification

Controversy over the characterization of nominal adjectives

Nouns

Grammatical case

Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns

Demonstratives

Conjugable words

Stem forms

Verbs

Transitive and intransitive verbs

Adjectival verbs and nouns

Copula (だda)

Euphonic changes(Âm tiện,onbin)

Historical sound change

Verb conjugations

Polite forms of adjectives

Respectful verbs

Colloquial contractions

Other independent words

Adverbs

Conjunctions and interjections

Ancillary words

Particles

Topic, theme, and subject:はwaandがga

Thematicwa

Contrastivewa

Exhaustivega

Objectivega

Objects, locatives, instrumentals:をo,でde,にni,へe

Quantity and extents:とto,もmo,かka,やya,からkara,までmade

Coordinating:とto,にni,よyo

Final:かka,ねne,よyoand related

Compound particles

Auxiliary verbs

Notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links